Knesset Guard preparing for ceremony
Knesset Guard preparing for ceremonyKnesset Spokesman's office

Passover has not yet started, but preparations and training are already underway for the official annual Yom Ha’atzmaut ceremony, which takes place on Mount Herzl on the evening of Israel’s Independence Day.

The ceremony includes a march by members of the Knesset Guard, the body which is responsible for the security of the Knesset building and protection of Knesset members. The guards who participate in the march are carefully and personally selected by Knesset Guard platoon commander and the master sergeant.

Shmulik Tzabari, the Knesset Guard platoon commander, has served for a total of eight years, four of them as commander. He told Arutz Sheva that he gets excited over the ceremony every year.

“It makes me excited to be part of something which, in my eyes, is something which is connected to our State,” Tzabari said, noting that he was born on the 5th day of Iyar, the date according to the Hebrew calendar on which Yom Ha’atzmaut is celebrated. This makes the ceremony even more special for him, he said.

“I can tell you that people fight to take part in this ceremony,” he said. “They literally fight but there are only 30 guards that can go in, not including myself and the master sergeant, and we have to select these 30 guys out of all the Knesset guards.”

Even master sergeant Yosef Shabbat, who has been with the Knesset Guard for over 30 years, gets excited about the ceremony every year.

“I get butterflies in my stomach the day of the ceremony,” he said. “I prepare for this ceremony all year. I prepare my people for this ceremony throughout the entire year. They are selected personally by me and by the commander during the training we hold for them. The excitement on the day of the ceremony is tremendous, as if it’s my first year doing it.”