The State of Israel honored its fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism on Wednesday, sounding a two-minute siren nationwide in their memory at 11:00 a.m.
Immediately after the siren was sounded, the main national ceremony in the honor of the fallen began at the Israeli military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Supreme Court chief justice Ester Hayut, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, and Israel’s chief of police Motti Cohen were among the senior Israeli officials in attendance.
The memorial candle at the event was lit by Yonat Meshoulami, the widow of Staff Sergeant Ami Meshoulami, who was killed on August 12th, 2006 during the Second Lebanon war. Professor Meir Shalit, the father of Omer Shalit, who was killed in the military helicopter disaster of 1997, was tapped to recite the Kaddish mourner’s prayer for the dead.
A total of 23,741 people died in the service of the State of Israel, and in the protection of the pre-state Jewish community in the Land of Israel. Ninety-six new names, including 56 people killed and forty people who were disabled and later died of wounds sustained during their service, were added to the list over the past year.