Israel marked its Memorial Day, today, commemorating the memory of the country’s 23,646 fallen soldiers and civilian victims of terror, since the inception of the Jewish state, 70 years ago. Memorial ceremonies were held yesterday evening, and throughout today, while some 1.5 million people have reportedly visited the country’s 52 military cemeteries. During remarks at a memorial ceremony commemorating the country’s diplomatic corps, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that “the day in which terror broke lose into a new global scale… was the day the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran,” a significant moment in history that marked the path to the future: as path of terror. “If I had to point-out the day in which terror broke lose into a new global scale. I would say that it happened in a dramatic event in Teheran 39 years ago. The take-over of the US embassy in Teheran and the capture of dozens of diplomats and citizens as prisoners. This event marked the path to the future, terror, terror and more terror, border crossing terror,” Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader referred to the 1992 terror attack on Israel’s embassy in Argentina, in which twenty-nine civilians were killed and 242 additional civilians were injured – including many from Israel’s diplomatic corps; an attack that Jerusalem ascribes to the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Lebanese-proxy, Hezbollah. “Terror crosses borders. And today, it is the cruel terror under the auspices of Iran, that was then also, and under the auspices of Daesh (the Islamic State). There are no continents or states that are safe from terror. What we must do, is to stand together against them. To erect a mighty dam of the civilized world against the stream of radicalism. The terror orchestrators smell weakness, but equally, they recognize power. Through force and resolve we will stop terror,” Netanyahu said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also listed Israel’s achievements over the course of the years, which he emphasized “is the worthiest commemoration of Israel’s fallen.” He further asserted that 120 years after the inception of Zionism, it has reached an all-time high in all sectors; as well as -what the Israeli leader defined as the most important change- Israel’s relations with its Arab neighbors that will ultimately broaden Jerusalem’s circle of peace. Ahead of tonight’s celebrations of the 70th independence of the state of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also mentioned the significance of the relations with the United States, and the anticipated relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “The relations with the United States has yielded an unprecedented diplomatic achievement in the form of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In a few weeks we will gather in this location to host the visitors in the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. More countries declared that they too will relocate their embassies to our capital,” Netanyahu said.