The Right To Exist
In the past week we have observed two memorial days, Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron- “Holocaust and Heroism Memorial Day” and the “Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror”. On both of these days I had the honor to guard my army base and on the latter to stand as the honor guard in front of the memorial flame. I felt immense pride to know that on these solemn days, I was a part of the IDF, the Israel Defense Force, protecting my people so that no one could kill 6 million of us again. As I stood at attention, my gun to one side the flame to the other, I thought of all the brave souls who lost their lives protecting ours. I thought of those brutally murdered simply for being Jewish. At that moment, it was specifically for that reason that I felt such pride.
Today we mark Israel’s 58th birthday, the anniversary of our country. And yet, all these years later, there are still those who refuse to acknowledge our right to exist as a country and even further, our right to exist as a people. More than 60 years after the fall of the Third Reich there are still those that call for our destruction. As the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shamelessly calls for our destruction while pushing his country closer to becoming a nuclear power, I am scared. And I pray we will heed the inscription on the monument at Treblinka, and “Never Again” will we allow it to happen.
posted by Ben @ 6:53 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
and sixty years later we have the strongest army in the ME and one of the strongest in the world with incredible intelligence agencies to back them up and a coutntry that has never had more reason to be proud
never again, not because they won't try, but because this time when they come, we'll be ready
Lemme tell you, there are a couple things which put life in perspective.
When during the siren on Memorial day evening you stand in a ceremony all dirty having come directly from a patrol and headed right back to it when the ceremony is over, you begin to feel something.
When the next day you stand in front of an angry Arab refugee camp and take your helmet off and put your beret on for the siren, you begin to understand.
They have fallen for me, for you, and for everyone who lives here, and it is our job to insure that their sacrifice was not in vain. Often heard words, yes, but true nonetheless
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