Yosef Drexler
Yosef Drexlerpicture used with permission of family

In the past 5 years, a memorial ceremony has been held at the cemetery in Bnei Brak for the fallen IDF soldiers whose memory has been forgotten each Memorial Day for the last five years.

The ceremony is organized by Yaakov Vidar, chairman of the Likud faction in the Bnei Brak city council, and Rabbi Yitzhak Drexler, a hero of the Yom Kippur War.

Each year, the two asked the government offices to take responsibility for organizing an official and state ceremony in memory of the haredi martyrs, as was the case with all other memorial services, but received a negative response.

Despite this, they did not give up, and organized a moving memorial ceremony at the Ponevezh cemetery in Bnei Brak, near the graves of the fallen soldiers where the families of the bereaved families and hundreds of participants came each year.

Yaakov Vidar, founder of the ceremony for the fallen IDF soldiers, said "this important decision of the Defense Ministry proves that the State of Israel will never forget those who gave their lives for the people of Israel."