Leave politics out of Remembrance Day
The weight of Remembrance Day descends upon bereaved families long before it reaches the national calendar. While the rest of Israel prepares for Passover with cleaning, shopping, and family plans, a familiar, heavy cloud reappears in our lives as the most sensitive day of the year approaches.
Once again, memories flood back: the siren, the silence, the local ceremony on the eve of the day, the journey to the military cemetery in the morning.
For most Israelis, Remembrance Day is a national occasion. For us, the bereaved families, it is deeply personal. It is not a day that demands lofty speeches but rather one that calls for profound emotion, quiet presence, and national recognition of our pain.
Let me be clear: Bereaved families do not need Remembrance Day to remember. That is not the purpose of this powerful day. For those who have lost a loved one, the loss is ever-present, woven into every day. Each fallen soldier is also remembered individually on their personal memorial day.
The national Remembrance Day exists for the entire people – one day a year when the nation collectively expresses gratitude to the fallen and stands in solidarity with the families left behind.
It is the state that sets the official ceremonies, and rightly so, because this is a day when the nation honors its fallen and embraces their families. Yet, year after year, we find ourselves frustrated when the microphone is handed over to politicians.
Despite repeated pleas, the message seems not to be heard: please, keep politics out of the cemeteries and ceremonies.
On this sacred day, dedicated to memory, connection, and unity, we ask for a simple show of respect. This can be achieved most powerfully through the quiet presence of public figures alongside us: laying wreaths, standing silently, expressing solidarity not through words, but through respectful presence.
And if speaking from the podium is unavoidable, then please – with the utmost humility – refrain from declarations or political statements. Our fallen belong neither to the Right nor to the Left, neither to the coalition nor to the opposition.
They belong to all of us. They paid the ultimate price so that we could continue to live and thrive together in this land. Read the words written by the heroes of the Israel-Hamas War; learn from them! Their profound understanding of unity, camaraderie, and sacrifice shines through, showing the true spirit that binds us together.
A plea on behalf of the families of the fallen
AS CHAIRPERSON of the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization, I appeal on behalf of all of us – the children who grew up without fathers, the widows who cling to photographs as if they were taken yesterday, and the parents who grieve even after decades: Give us a pure, untainted Memorial Day. If you truly wish to honor us, come quietly. Stand with us, beside us, in mourning.
On this day, we ask for very simple things: silence, respect, remembrance, and unity. When politics intrudes, it shatters this fragile unity and wounds us at our most vulnerable moment. I am not naive; I do not expect politicians to surrender the spotlight easily.
Still, it seems that in recent years, our shared, unspoken social contracts, the ones essential to the fabric of any society, are fraying. Sadly, Israel has not yet fully embraced the understanding that “it is not done” to politicize this sacred day.
Instead, the growing polarization has turned military cemeteries into arenas of political demonstrations and protests. But our sons and daughters did not fall for political ideologies. They fell for the State of Israel – for mutual responsibility, for the deep historical bond between our people and our land, making the ultimate sacrifice so that all of us could live here.
On behalf of the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization, and in the name of all the victims of bereavement, I call on all public representatives, in the government coalition and the opposition alike: Restrain yourselves on this sacred day. Grant us the little we ask for: peace and silence.
Let us all stand together, united during moments of silence, under one flag, and with one national anthem sung by one people.
The writer is the chairperson of the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization.