Memorial Day 5724: The Ministry of Defense published today (Friday) the number of casualties in the Israeli military system from 1860 to the present day, which stands at 24,068 casualties. When, from the day of remembrance 5771 to the present day, 56 spaces were added to the number of fallen and another 84 disabled people, who died as a result of their disability and were recognized during the year as the spaces of the Israeli systems.
This coming Tuesday, May 3, at 20:00 in the evening, a one-minute memorial siren will be sounded throughout the country, marking the opening of Remembrance Day for the victims of the Israeli military operations. Immediately after the siren, memorial rallies will begin across the country. The main ceremony will take place at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem in the presence of the President and the Chief of Staff.
The next day, May 4, at 11:00 a.m., a two-minute memorial siren will sound, after which state memorial services will begin at 52 military cemeteries across the country and at memorial sites.
The main ceremony will take place at the State Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem in the presence of the President, Prime Minister and Speaker of the Knesset.
The Department of Families, Commemoration and Heritage at the Ministry of Defense, which is responsible for the Memorial Day events, has completed the preparation of the 52 military cemeteries, the Bedouin Warriors memorial site at the leading junction, hundreds of military burial plots and thousands of graves scattered in various localities from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat. The works included renovation, accessibility, maintenance, cleaning, landscaping as well as polishing and replacing damaged or old tombstones. In recent weeks, the department’s employees have initiated calls for the bereaved families in preparation for Memorial Day, in order to provide any assistance they may need.
Vice President and Head of the Families, Commemoration and Heritage Division at the Ministry of Defense Aryeh Mualem He said that “these days an entire nation is commemorated with the memory of the fallen and stands by the bereaved families. Employees of the Families, Commemoration and Heritage Department are prepared on this day, as all year round, to receive the bereaved families in the cemeteries, hug and extend a supportive and loving hand. “From Dan to Eilat, a flag, a wreath and a candle will be laid, as an expression of the moral debt of Israeli society to the fallen, who sacrificed their lives. May the memory of the fallen be blessed.”
Defense Minister Bnei Gantz in preparation for Memorial Day events (Photo: Spokeswoman and Information Department, Ministry of Defense)Along with the memorial events in Israel and as part of strengthening the connection with the bereaved families living abroad, the Commemoration and Heritage Division of the Ministry of Defense and the World Zionist Organization produced an online hybrid Memorial Day ceremony this year. It will be displayed on the Ministry of Defense’s YouTube page, as well as content for a community memorial service, which is published on the Family, Commemoration and Heritage Department’s website, and will be distributed to thousands of Jewish communities around the world.
The names of all the victims of the Israeli systems will be broadcast consecutively on Channel 26 (Partner, Yes and Hot), Cellcom TV, Idan Plus and the izkor website. The names will appear in the order in which they fall, from the evening of Remembrance Day (Tuesday, Monday, May 2, 1952) at 20:45, until the evening of Remembrance Day.