A note from CAMERA’s Partnership of Christians & Jews:
Dear Friends,
Today is Israel’s Yom Ha’Atzma’ut, or Independence Day! This year marks the 78th anniversary of the day Israel declared its independence and was reestablished as a modern state in May of 1948.
Independence Day is traditionally a day of great festivities, during which the entire country celebrates the rebirth and existence of the Jewish State. This year’s celebration will be just that, in spite of being observed in the shadow of tenuous ceasefires with Iran and Hezbollah — the outcomes of which are still to be determined.
Unfortunately, both terrorist organizations — the radical Islamic regime in Tehran and its proxy in Lebanon — have violated the cease fire agreements numerous times in the last couple of weeks. However, as of this writing, the country will hopefully be able to celebrate without the threat of incoming rockets and missiles.
In any case, the Israeli people know how to celebrate and rejoice in spite of whatever comes. There is no doubt the festivities will go on, in honor of the existence of the one and only Jewish State!
Yom HaZikaron
The joyful celebration of Yom Ha’Atzma’ut is preceded by the solemn observance of Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, which is a national day of mourning for all those lost in Israel’s existential battles and wars. After sundown on Yom HaZikaron, Israelis go from mourning to celebrating the existence of Israel as the celebration of Yom Ha’Atzma’ut begins.
The transition from Memorial Day to Independence Day is marked by a traditional torchlighting ceremony on Har HaZikaron — Mount Herzl — the site of Israel’s national cemetery. The lighting of torches in this location symbolizes the connection between the sacrifice of the fallen and the freedom of the country.
The relationship between the two days is clear. There could be no celebration of the existence of Israel on Independence Day without the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in defense of the Jewish State. Yom HaZikaron is a sobering reminder of the cost of having a Jewish state, because all those who lost their lives were murdered simply because they were Jews who wanted to live in peace in their ancient homeland.
170 soldiers have fallen since Israel’s last Memorial Day. Their names are included in the new total of 30,957 fallen heroes — soldiers and civilians — who have been killed since 1860 when Jews first established new places to live outside the Old City of Jerusalem. This number of deaths is high by any standard, but it is extreme relative to the total population of Israel. It is also jarring because every Israeli citizen has been personally impacted in some way by one or more of these deaths.
In his Memorial Day message, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir honored Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror as he vowed to continue the fight against ongoing security threats. In a letter to IDF officers and soldiers, he said: “In these moments, as silence envelops the country and longing echoes in the heart of the nation, an entire people gathers in grief.” He emphasized that the memory of the lost binds the nation in what he referred to as the enduring mission of “defending the home.”
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the greatly diminished — but still existent — Iranian threat when he said: “Iran, as in every generation, has risen up to destroy us. It planned to destroy us with nuclear bombs. Had we not acted, the names Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan, those sites of death, would have joined Auschwitz, Birkenau and Treblinka. We acted and crushed the murder plot.”
He added: “That is precisely the difference between the reality of our lives in the terrible exile and a life of national rebirth in the Land of Israel. Unlike in the not-so-distant past, today we have a home, and we must protect it at all costs.”
Netanyahu also said that in addition to Israel’s fallen soldiers, “we remember the fallen of the Israeli home front.” He commented that since October 7, 2023, Israel has been fighting a multi-front war “unlike anything since the War of Independence.”
Both leaders emphasized the importance and absolute necessity of defending Israel — the home of the Jewish people. In so doing, they also highlighted the direct connection between the sacrifice of the fallen and the independence of the Jewish State.
Update on a Recent Disturbing Event
Over the past couple of days, an image allegedly showing an IDF soldier damaging a statue of Jesus in Lebanon went viral on social media. It is important to note that there was immediate outrage worldwide — long before it had been determined if the footage was authentic, which unfortunately, it was.
The IDF conducted an immediate investigation to determine if the image was real or AI generated and concluded that what was portrayed really had occurred. The IDF then issued the following statement, titled “Findings and Conclusions of the Inquiry into the Conduct of an IDF Soldier Who Damaged a Christian Symbol in Southern Lebanon”:
The findings of the inquiry and the command recommendations following the incident in which an IDF soldier was documented damaging a Christian symbol in southern Lebanon were presented last night (Monday) to the Commander of the 162nd Division, BG Sagiv Dahan.
The inquiry found that during IDF activity in the area of the Christian village of Debel in southern Lebanon, the soldier damaged a Christian religious symbol while another soldier took the photograph of the act that was distributed. Six additional soldiers were present at the scene and did not act to stop the incident or report it.
The inquiry determined that the soldiers’ conduct completely deviated from IDF orders and values.The IDF expresses deep regret over the incident and emphasizes that its operations in Lebanon are directed solely against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and other terrorist groups, and not against Lebanese civilians.
From the moment the report of the incident was received, the IDF has been working to assist the local community in replacing the statue.
The division commander accepted the findings of the inquiry and the commanders’ recommendations.
Accordingly, it was decided that the soldier who damaged the Christian symbol and the soldier who photographed the act will be removed from combat duty and will receive 30 days of military detention. The remaining troops who stood by have been summoned for clarification discussions that will be held later on, after which further command-level measures will be determined.
Procedures regarding conduct with religious institutions and symbols were reinforced to the troops prior to their entry into the relevant areas, and will be reinforced again for all troops in the area following the incident.
The findings of the inquiry were presented to the Chief of the General Staff and the Commander of the Northern Command.
The Chief of the General Staff condemned the incident and stated that it constitutes unacceptable conduct and a moral failure, far exceeding any acceptable standard and contradicting IDF values and the expected conduct of its troops.
In the wake of this incident, it is important to note the following:
- There was immediate outrage worldwide — long before it had been determined if the footage was authentic. In other words, the world jumped at the opportunity to condemn Jews, even before the truth had been established.
- After determining the facts, the IDF condemned what happened, as did rabbis and an overwhelming majority of the Israeli people.
- The IDF took immediate steps to discipline the perpetrators AND replace the statue of Jesus with another one.
The vandalization of a statue of Jesus was committed by individual IDF soldiers. Such actions are NOT condoned by the leadership of the IDF and procedures have been reinforced concerning how forces are to treat religious institutions and symbols. Moreover, the statue has already been replaced.
It must be noted that the immediate actions taken by the IDF stand in stark contrast to the treatment of Christians and Christian symbols by the Muslim world in general. Furthermore, the same voices that condemned the actions of the IDF soldiers and were quick to report this story on Al Jazeera and various Arab social networks are silent when it comes to Muslim vandalization of Christian symbols throughout the Middle East, Hezbollah’s use of a church as a terror base in Lebanon, the massacre of Christians in Syria, and the near-elimination of the Christian population in Gaza.
Is it possible that people who were quick to condemn the actions of individual IDF soldiers care more about an opportunity to demonize Israel than they do about Christians or Christian symbols in the Middle East?
Indeed, if these same voices do not report objectively on how the IDF took immediate steps to correct the problem — and replace the statue of Jesus — the only conclusion one can make is that they:
- Took advantage of the opportunity to demonize the IDF as a whole
- Demonstrated once again their unconditional hatred of the Jewish State
- Revealed their hypocrisy when it comes to NOT actually standing up for Christians in the Middle East