Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this evening (Monday) in a videotaped speech at the torch-lighting ceremony of Israel's 76th Independence Day.
"76 years ago, in the War of Independence, we stood alone. The few against the many. Five Arab armies invaded our territory to eliminate the country that had just been born. We were poor in weapons, almost without means. But we had one secret weapon: the spirit of the ages, the life force of an ancient people that refuses to die. A people who stand up for their lives. As the psalmist says: 'I will not die, rather, I will live.'"
"Thanks to this spirit, we defeated our enemies and secured our existence," Netanyahu added and said: "Today we are infinitely stronger. But the desire to destroy us has not disappeared, it is still here. We saw it this year on October 7."
"This is not an ordinary Independence Day," he said, "the war is still in progress. It was forced upon us on a black day of terrible slaughter. Many of our brothers and sisters are still being held in the dungeons of Hamas. Their families are going through terrible suffering. We will bring them all home - both the living and the dead."
He continued, "Residents in the south and the north are still evacuated from their homes due to the war. We will return them safely to their communities. Our best soldiers fell in heroic battles. The families of the fallen are tormented by the pain of irreparable loss. Our wounded are dealing with their battle wounds with unparalleled nobility. I embrace everyone with love. I wish a full recovery for our wounded when I meet many of them and also many of the families of the fallen, they say to me: 'Our heroes did not fall in vain,' 'Our heroes were not wounded in vain'. 'Continue to the end, continue until the Hamas monsters are eliminated.' And I promise you - that is what we'll do."
"Although this is not an ordinary Independence Day, it is a special opportunity to understand the meaning of our independence," Netanyahu said, adding that it is "the independence to be a free people in our country. The independence to defend ourselves with our own strength. The independence to fulfill the decree of the generations: Never again! We are doing all this together, only together. Just as our heroic soldiers fight together, shoulder to shoulder, in tanks, in APCs, in tunnels, in planes, in ships. At the moment of truth, an entire country mobilized. What a wonderful generation we have. The generation of the victorious heroes."
"The torches that we light tonight will shine the great light of the glory of our country. They write in letters of fire the wonderful story of our people. We raise a miracle and a flare in honor of this nation. In honor of the Israelis who run into danger to save one another. In honor of the soldiers, the commanders, the policemen and policewomen, The women and men of the security forces - they all added new links to the chain of heroism of the defenders of our nation," he said.
"In honor of the Druze, Christian, Muslim, Bedouin and Circassian soldiers. We are all proud Israelis. We are brothers! In honor of the dedicated reservists, who want to fight until victory. In honor of the families on the home front, who are a solid support for the boys and girls on the front. In honor of the rescue and emergency organizations that saved so many lives. In honor of the thousands of citizens who come to the funeral of a single soldier. In honor of the volunteers who surround the IDF soldiers with love. In honor of our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora and in honor of our non-Jewish friends who stand together with us with their heads held high against the hatred of Israel. For the honor of our beloved people, 'A people that riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion doth he lift himself up, will arise and the people of Israel will be resurrected' for the glory of the State of Israel!" Netanyahu concluded.