Memorial Day

We just heard the evening siren wailing across the country, watched the official ceremony on television, and my husband and kids lit a memorial candle in memory of all the fallen soldiers.

Memorial Day has officially begun.

The statistics are sad. 184 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives in combat since this day last year.

And 137 civilians lost their lives to terror.

Since 1948, 20,196 Israelis have been killed in wars and hostilities.

As hundreds of thousands visit the country’s cemeteries, flags in all public institutions will be lowered to half mast, radio and television networks will broadcast special programs and all entertainment establishments will shut down.

After the siren, memorial ceremonies will be held throughout the country. The central state rally will be held in the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem.

All that is on television right now are people remembering their loved ones. Every year, I watch as much as I can take, and then escape a bit to CNN or Fox News for a bit of distraction that's not quite so depressing. But right now, with what is happening in Iraq leading the news, there's no escape from the depressing.

UPDATE: Sadly, the list of the fallen grew longer by one soldieron Memorial Day itself.

Yaniv Mashiah, a twenty-year-old national serviceman serving with the Border Police, was killed last night (Sunday), and three others were injured lightly in a shooting attack on the vehicle they were traveling in. The attack took place near the Idna village in the Southern Hebron Hills.

“Yaniv was proud of what he was doing and never complained about the service conditions”, Yaniv’s father Reuven said on Monday. “He used to reassure me ‘dad, everything here is okay, the food is good, so are the commanders and I like the unit’”, he added.

Yaniv grew up in a neighborhood between Jaffa and Bat-Yam. During high school, he majored in accounting. His family describes him as a gentle and polite child that always offered a helping hand to his neighbors and those around him.

The “Abd al-Aziz Rantissi” cell of the al-Aqsa brigades took responsibility for the attack, which they said, was in revenge for Israel’s killing of Hamas leaders Rantissi and Sheikh Ahmed Yasin.