Israel’s President Hosts 120 Distinguished Soldiers For Independence Day

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog hosted 120 distinguished Israel Defense Forces soldiers and officers representing all branches of the IDF for the country’s main daytime Independence Day ceremony. The ceremony opened with an honorary flyover by Israeli Air Force combat planes and helicopters. “You are our true pride. I salute you. I have read your stories. I was moved by your stories. Truly, by each and every one,” Herzog, marking his first Independence Day as president, told the soldiers. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in his morning Independence Day address called on the country’s youth to work to help improve the country. “I appeal to the Israeli youth, to the next generation with a simple message: Let us learn from the heroes of our people to take responsibility – to stand up and do. Fix the country. …If something is broken – fix it. If something is wrong – act,” Bennett said. Following the president’s ceremony, the annual Bible Quiz finals, featuring teenage contestants from Israel and around the world, got underway in Jerusalem. Israel opened its Independence Day, or Yom Haatzmaut, on Wednesday evening, transitioning from the sadness of its Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror to the national celebration which opened with a national ceremony held at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. On Thursday morning in Jerusalem, clashes broke out on the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa compound in after the site holy to both Muslims and Jews reopened to non-Muslim visitors. Groups of Jewish pilgrims began lining up early on Thursday morning for the chance to ascend to the site. Palestinians at the site chanted in Arabic at the visitors: “God is great” and “with spirit, with blood, we’ll redeem Al-Aqsa!”