Israel on Monday held a ceremony marking one year since last summer’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.
“It was a moral and just campaign undertaken by a sovereign state to defend its citizens,” said President Reuven Rivlin at the ceremony, which was also attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and various ministers and Knesset members.
“Men, women, children and the elderly were exposed to the terror of death and the shock waves that follow.”
Also at the ceremony were bereaved family members and IDF soldiers who fought in the Gaza war. The commander of the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, Lt. Col. Shay Siman Tov, who had sustained serious injuries in the operation last summer, read the mourner’s kaddish from his wheelchair.
Rivlin went on to say that for the war-injured and the families who lost children or parents in last summer’s conflict, Operation Protective Edge is still not over. “Nor is Israel’s mission over,” he added.
“We are still waiting for the return of two of our sons: Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin. We will not rest until we bring them for burial in Israel.”
The bodies of Shaul and Goldin were not recovered after they died while fighting in Gaza. Hamas is believed to have taken their bodies as leverage.
Rivlin went on to address recent incidents of Gazan rocket fire into southern Israel, saying, “The next conflict will be more difficult than the last one. Such a conflict will require a clear and difficult decision.
“Only the eradication of terrorism will stop the killing of innocent people on both sides.”
Netanyahu also spoke about the campaign last summer, saying, “Hamas was hit harder than ever before. We are closely following the activities in the south and we are prepared to act with the full force required.
“I say to all the enemies of Israel—Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the Islamic State group—whoever tries to harm us, their blood is upon their own heads.”
The prime minister went on to say that commanders in the field last summer kept the letters children wrote to them on the walls of the command center, adding that it is this kind of care for one another that “gave the IDF soldiers the extra strength to fight our enemies. They did so with utmost regard for the laws of war and the IDF’s value of purity of arms.”
Netanyahu also addressed the need to bring back the bodies of the two fallen soldiers that remain in Gaza. He said that Israel would do everything in its power to this end, as it is “our fundamental duty to them and their families.”
Ya’alon echoed Netanyahu’s pledge, adding, “We must remember that the reality that surrounds us is complicated and multi-faceted. It is possible that in the future, we will be forced to return to the Gaza Strip to fight terrorist organizations.”
On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces will begin handing out campaign ribbons to every soldier who served in Operation Protective Edge.
By Lilach Shoval/Israel Hayom
