Around 100 Israeli paratroopers, along with Hungarian, Slovenian, Croatian, and British paratroopers, participated in the event as part of the "Lightning of the Heavens" delegation commemorating Jewish paratroopers who were dropped into Nazi-controlled areas to fight. The drop was held on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hannah Szenes, the first female pre-state parachutist.
However, Szene's nephew, Eitan Szenes, was critical of the event.
"The State of Israel should not have involved Hungarian paratroopers in the event – it hurts the family. I do not think that the person who murdered my aunt should celebrate her 100th birthday. In Hungary they are trying to make my aunt a national heroine, it is delusional and annoying," he said.
Hannah Szenes parachuted into former Yugoslavia in 1944 and was arrested by Hungarian police. She was tortured in prison and tried for treason, and was executed by a firing squad later that year.
Eitan Szenes has spoken out against Hungarian commemoration of his aunt before. In 2007, Eitan Szenes fought to bring his aunt's gravestone from Hungary to Kibbutz Sdot Yam, where she lived before her death.
In an interview with the Jewish Telegraph Agency at the time, Eitan Szenes explained his rationale behind the move: "Israel, especially the kibbutz, where the Szenes family initiated a museum honoring Hannah, is the right place for it. Hannah’s memory is better kept in Israel, where she is in the curriculum of all the schools, unlike in Hungary, where only very few know who she was."