Top IDF officials and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Ronen Bar marked Remembrance Day on Tuesday attending a variety of ceremonies across the country.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi and IDF Human Resources Commander Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asur on Tuesday attended the national memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl while Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Amir Baram and IDF intelligence chief Aharon Huliya attended Remembrance Day ceremonies in Tel Aviv.
Also, IDF Rescue Commander Col. (res.) Golan Voch was given an award by Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan as leader of the Israeli delegation that rescued a number of Turks after the terrible earthquake in early February.
In his acceptance speech, Voch said that despite the personal honor given to him, his thoughts on Tuesday were with the families of fallen Israeli soldiers.
Remembrance Day for the Shin Bet
Bar spoke at Shin Bet headquarters to families of fallen former agents as well as former agency chiefs and the current security staff.
He said, “In the Shin Bet, Remembrance Day has an additional significance. Our daily need to strive for stopping the endlessly growing list of the fallen should come to an end [because there will be more peace]. And this obligates us to be more aware, to initiate, and to excellence.”
“In the Shin Bet, Remembrance Day has an additional significance. Our daily need to strive for stopping the endlessly growing list of the fallen should come to an end [because there will be more peace]. And this obligates us to be more aware, to initiate, and to excellence.”
Ronen Bar
Moreover, he said, “In the Shin Bet service, the translation of the phrase ‘through their death they gave us a charge to live’ has changed to ‘through their death, they passed the responsibility to be on guard to us.’”
Further, he said, “It is a very complex guardianship with difficult disagreements internally within our house, the development of new threats from the outside, a feeling of being trapped on certain fronts and of challenges getting tougher.
“But it’s also the period in which the agency has hit its stride… the elite who stand here – the men and women of intelligence, technology, the supporters, the lawyers, the handlers, the investigators, the combat fighters and security guards, act as if they were born for this.”
Next, he addressed all those who think Israel and its defense establishment are crumbling and want to try to widen Israel’s internal divisions.
He said such persons “are probing us with terror attacks, incitement and with a variety of shooting actions, “I would not recommend relying on that or testing our elite units.
IDF navy seals, reservists hold joint Remembrance Day run
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the IDF announced that over 200 Shayetet 13 navy seals and their commanders carried out a steep uphill 12-kilometer run near the unit’s northern Atalit base to honor the memory of the 85 fallen soldiers who had served in the special forces unit.
For the first time, IDF reservists also joined the run, possibly a move designed to send a message about the reservists' commitment to the unit despite many stories in the media about lagging enthusiasm amongst reservists.
As each runner reached a certain point, they would call out the name of a member of the fallen.
In addition, the attendees heard the story of Yaniv Shmuel, who was killed during Hezbollah’s Ansariya ambush in 1997 in southern Lebanon, which was told by his mother.