Toulouse Victims’ Kin Mark Israel’s Memorial Day
Eva Sandler, the wife and mother of three victims of the Toulouse shooting, lit a memorial flame at a ceremony in Jerusalem honoring the victims of anti-Semitic attacks worldwide.
Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 30, and his two young sons Gabriel and Arieh were killed last month in a shooting outside the Ozar Hatorah school on Toulouse. The young daughter of the school’s principal was also killed. The gunman, Mohammed Merah, told police before he was killed in a day-long siege of his apartment that he killed them in revenge for Palestinian children killed in Gaza.
“When enemies attack a Jewish center in Buenos Aires or a Jewish school in Toulouse, it is also our war. It is our job to remember each and every one of the victims,” Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, said during the ceremony in the Jewish Agency’s courtyard..
Following a two-minute siren heard throughout the country at 11 a.m. Wednesday, memorial ceremonies were held in communities and military cemeteries across the country in observance of Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day, Israel’s official Memorial Day. The services will culminate with a torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl at 8 p.m., which ushers in Yom Ha’atzmaut, or Israel Independence Day.
In a message to the Diaspora for Independence Day, released Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked “the tens of millions of friends of Israel throughout the world for their unwavering support for the one and only Jewish state.”
“This passionate support, along with Israel’s strong army, free economy and dynamic society, is the pillar of our national strength,” he said.
Netanyahu also spoke at the national memorial service at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning.
A one-minute siren on Tuesday night ushered in Israel’s Memorial Day.Tuesday evening’s siren was immediately followed by a national ceremony held at the Western Wall and televised to the entire nation.
“Your beloved ones had a crucial part in the achievements of the state,” Israeli President Shimon Peres told the bereaved families at the ceremony. “We shall forever remain indebted to your children. No act or gesture on our part can relieve your pain and the memories that will not vanish.”
According to official figures, the total number of fallen security personnel and terror victims from 1860 to 2012 stands at 22,993, with 126 killed since last Remembrance Day. There are 10,524 bereaved families of security personnel, 2,396 orphans and 4,992 widows of the Israeli military and the defense establishment.
At a ceremony earlier in the day at the Yad Lebanim memorial, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the bereaved parents and political and religious figures on hand, “It was the heartfelt duty of our dear ones that led them to face the enemy. It is the duty of our conscience that leads us to stand with eyes closed and not only remember but look toward the future as well. Today, the people of Israel lay aside disagreements and stand as one beside you. Today we remember the fallen of Israel’s wars, all of our dear ones. Each one had a family. Every name has a life’s story of its own; an entire world has been cut short.”
Netanyahu’s brother Yonatan was killed in the Israeli military’s July 1976 mission to rescue hostages at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda.
“As a member of a bereaved family, Remembrance Day is very significant for me,” the prime minister said. “It is not only a national day of remembrance, it is also a private day of remembrance for me and my family, as it is for all of you.”
Also Tuesday, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics announced that Israel’s population stands at 7.88 million. There were 806,000 residents of Israel when it was established in 1948.
Three-quarters of the population, or 5.93 million people, is Jewish. The 1.62 million Arabs in Israel comprise 20 percent of the population.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
