‘We Have Not Given Up,’ Rivlin Says, Remembering Israel’s Missing Fallen Soldiers

The seventh day of the Hebrew month of Adar – the anniversary of the death of biblical Moses, whose burial place is unknown – is the day Israel commemorates its missing fallen soldiers.

By United with Israel Staff

Tuesday, March 3, 2020 coincides with the Hebrew date of the birth and death of the biblical Moses, whose burial place is unknown. The seventh day of the Hebrew month of Adar was therefore chosen as the day to remember Israel’s fallen soldiers whose bodies have not been found.

“As fate would have it, in addition to the immense grief for your fallen loved ones, you bear an additional pain: the most terrible pain of all, the pain of doubt, of the unknown,” President Reuven Rivlin said Tuesday at the official memorial ceremony for fallen IDF soldiers whose place of burial is unknown, held at the Hall of Remembrance at Har Herzl in Jerusalem.

“I know that from the day you received the bitter news that your loved ones had had fallen in battle, you have not been at rest. Knowing this, I stand here today to remind us that at the heart of our gathering here today is one truth: the duty of the State of Israel and those who lead it to do everything we can for our soldiers who have not returned from battle.

“This is a moral obligation of the highest order. If you wish, it is the Zionist, ethical code that must never be forgotten.”

Rivlin said that Israel “must do everything possible to find our fallen soldiers whose place of burial is unknown, to give them a fitting resting place and to give you, dear families, somewhere to place a stone, to be at one with them and to weep.

“We demand devotion, determination, creativity, comradeship and dedication to mission from our soldiers. And they demand that we take responsibility for them, that we stand guarantor for them and that we will work to bring them home, from wherever and in whatever condition the dedication and devotion we require from them places them.

“We have not given up, and we will not give up on this sacred mission of bringing fallen IDF soldiers whose place of burial is unknown to their final resting place, and until we complete the mission fully, we will continue to bring our grief here, year after year at the edge of the garden of the missing soldiers,” the president continued.

“May the memories of our sons, the fallen of Israel’s wars whose place of burial is unknown, be a blessing and kept in our hearts forever.”

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