Israel begins its annual two-day commemoration ceremonies of Remembrance Day and Independence Day this evening. A one-minute siren will be sounded throughout the country at 8 PM in memory of the fallen soldiers in Israel's wars and those who fell as victims of Arab terrorism.
A two-minute siren will be sounded nationwide tomorrow at 11 AM, at which time memorial ceremonies will take place at the country's 42 military cemeteries. Following the state ceremony for fallen IDF veterans at Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, a ceremony for terrorism victims will be held there at 1 PM. The Kaddish prayer will be recited by Pinchas Elbaz, whose son Rafael fell in the line of military duty in 1981, and by Tzvi Yehuda Dickstein, who lost his parents Yosef and Chanah and brother Shuva'el in a pre-Sabbath terror attack south of Hevron last July.
The number of terrorism victims in this past year, since last Independence Day, is 218, and over 5,500 people were wounded. The National Insurance Institute reports that some 3,000 people have been murdered in terrorist attacks since 1948. The total number of fallen soldiers: 21,540.
Independence Day celebrations will begin tomorrow night throughout the country. A religious and national holiday, it is a celebration of the renewal of the Jewish state in the Land of Israel, the birthplace of the Jewish people.