The State of Israel on Tuesday commemorates the memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
The day's events began the previous evening and will continue throughout the day with a series of state ceremonies.
The events began at 8:00 a.m. at the Knesset. Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana lit a memorial candle at the entrance to the building and dedicated it to the memory of the Ben-Yitzhak family: the father, Elie (born in Morocco), the mother, Cecile (born in Algeria), and the son, Henri (born in France), all of whom were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.
“I mention them here so that we all remember that the fate of the Jewish people was meant to be the same fate across the globe," said Amir Ohana. “We took our destiny into our own hands, we established a state. We are fighting for it, all together. And together, with God’s help, we will prevail. May the memory of Eli, Cecil, and Henri be blessed forever."
At 10:00 a.m., a two-minute siren sounded across Israel. Immediately afterward, the official wreath-laying ceremony began at Yad Vashem, attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana, President of the Supreme Court Yitzhak Amit, Holocaust survivors, and other participants.
Due to the security situation, the “Each Person Has a Name" state memorial ceremony was pre-recorded at the Knesset and will be broadcast at 11:00 a.m. across media outlets.