‘The Commonality between Us Is Greater than What Separates Us’

September 27, 2023

by: JNS

Wednesday, 27 September 2023 | President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were among the speakers Tuesday at Israel’s state memorial ceremony marking 50 years since the Yom Kippur War.

The ceremony took place at the Hall of Remembrance on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. The attendees included Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Knesset [Parliament] Speaker Amir Ohana and Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Amit.

On October 6, 1973, a coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, coordinated a surprise attack on Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement], “thinking that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] would not be able to defend Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish year,” the IDF’s official website states.

The war ended 18 days later, on October 24, 1973, after Israel drove back the Arab advance, forcing Egypt and Syria to accept a ceasefire. A total of 2,691 Israeli soldiers were killed, according to the IDF.

Netanyahu confined his remarks to the war and the heroic and dedicated efforts of the Israeli people, who rose to the occasion to save the country.

“The nation, secular and religious, left-wing and right-wing, Jews and non-Jews, everyone proved then that the commonality between us is greater than what separates us and I’m certain that also today, if a battle is forced upon us, what’s common between us will overcome the differences,” he said.

Posted on September 27, 2023

Source: (Excerpt from an article originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on September 26, 2023. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS/jns.org