A memorial service for those who fell defending the State of Israel was held at the Yad LaBanim House in Jerusalem Tuesday afternoon, in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Knesset.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke at the memorial service, dedicating his speech to calling for unity among the people of Israel. "We were there, in Lebanon, all of us together. Kibbutzniks with city dwellers, secular with religious, Beersheba residents with Tel Avivians, right-wingers with left-wingers. Jews with non-Jews. The connection between us all is natural, something that should not be talked about at all. Together we spent long nights in the guard posts. Together we slept in the suffocating rooms inside the outposts. Together we went out into the petrifyng darkness on foot for operations. Everyone risked his life for the other. We were brothers."
"There, in southern Lebanon, I began to meet people with a different background than my own. In endless conversations on guard or during games at the outpost to pass the time. We would talk about home, about society, what our plans were after being released. Arguing politics. People would grumble about the fact that people are currently sitting in a restaurant or pub in Tel Aviv, and we were here in another world that a stranger would not understand.
Bennett continued: "I, who grew up in Haifa with parents who immigrated from the United States and did not even know there was such a thing as Ashkenazis and Sephardim, suddenly heard what life was like in the kibbutz, what it was like to be with 8eight brothers and sisters in an apartment in Ashkelon, what a secular high school is. I met soldiers from development towns alongside those who lived in villas."
''There, in outposts in southern Lebanon, I fell in love with our wonderful people. We all, in our hearts, fell in love. It was impossible not to. we were together. Many of the friends stayed there. Young people, 19 or 20-year-olds who did not return. They will remain our brothers forever. I cannot speak on their behalf, but I believe that if they could, they would have asked us: continue to live together. Don't let disagreements tear you apart."
The Prime Minister addressed the citizens of Israel: "My brothers and sisters, we have a strong IDF, and excellent security organizations. The Israeli guard is neither dozing nor asleep. We are on guard against the near and distant threats. : Our power is greater than the power of all our enemies."
''But if G-d forbid our mutual guarantee is broken, or we allow anger and hatred to grip us, then at the same time our enemies will take advantage of it to harm us. Unfortunately, our people carry on their bodies the scars of the quarrels of our ancestors.
''My brothers and sisters, our State of Israel is the third time that there is a sovereign Jewish state here in the Land of Israel. The previous two times, we did not succeed in completing the eighth decade united. This is the most important lesson in our history, and I do not tire of repeating it. For the first time, our first state, in the days of David and Solomon, survived 80 years as a united and sovereign kingdom. In the 81st year, because of internal conflicts, the country split in two, and we lost forever most of our people, the ten tribes.
''For the second time, during the Second Temple period, the Hasmonean kingdom existed for about 77 years as a united and sovereign state. Towards the end of the period, there was again a severe internal conflict within us, and it was the Jews themselves who invited the Romans inside Israel. We lost our independence and became a humiliated protectorate of the Romans.
''And we also lost this protectorate, at the end of the Second Temple. In the heat of purism and hostility, Jews burned each other's food reserves, inflicting defeat on themselves. What a terrible price we paid 2,000 years in exile, because we succumbed to hatred between brothers.
''And now, thank G-d, we've had a third chance, our State of Israel. My brothers and sisters, there will be no more opportunities. We are now in the eighth decade of the country, the decade in which we have never been more successful as a united nation. We have been given an opportunity to correct the sin of our ancestral brotherly hatred and to get rid of the string of factions that destroyed our people.
"The decision is in our hands," the prime minister stressed. Let's dispel the anxieties from each other. We will deal with the argument, not the claimant. We'll really listen. We will argue with each other, but never, ever will anyone hate his brother. Above all we will remember that we are one family, it is our duty towards the fallen. It is also our duty to future generations.
"For my part, every day, I think of my comrades, of my brothers in arms who have fallen. I think about them a lot, not just on Memorial Day. Sometimes, in a beautiful moment - a bat mitzvah for a friend's daughter, a trip in the Judean mountains, while traveling when a song is played on the radio, the image of those who were part of me, friends like my brothers, comes to me, who will not return.
''I grieve for you my brother, Jonathan. You are very pleasant to me '- these words from David's lament, and the nickname 'my brother' for his friend, accompany us to this day. From the dawn of Zionism, through the War of Independence, the Israeli Wars to the present day, our best sons and daughters have fallen in order to protect the existence of the State of Israel. On this day we all embrace the families who have lost the most precious to them of all.
''Out of the sanctity of this day, out of longing for those who are not with us, we swear to preserve this home, which was their home, the home they sacrificed their lives for. Let the souls of our fallen brothers be gathered in the bundle of life," Bennett added in his speech.