On Wednesday morning Israeli President Shimon Peres delivered a speech during an awards ceremony for the Council for a Beautiful Israel held at his residence. President Peres asked the participants to stand for a moment of silence in memory of the six IDF soldiers who perished in the helicopter crash in Romania, and he spoke about the tragedy during his speech, saying, “I know that today all of our hearts are somewhere else. Six of our beloved sons have fallen. Six of the most beautiful people that we have in Israel have fallen. There is no beautiful Israel without the beauty of the Israelis”.
“I think that the army is the most precious thing that the Jewish people has, and the sons who fought and have fallen are the most precious thing that the army has. Our hearts are with the families, with the parents, with the wives, the small children, with one pregnant woman and her child who still hasn’t come into the world. They were so young. I want to pass on to them the feelings of the entire nation and to embrace everyone”, he said.
President Peres added that “I felt the two following things as an Israeli citizen over the last two days: first, the nation is united in concern, in mourning, and in the pride that we have such people; second, there are new dangers and new challenges not to let our hearts and heads fall down. It is both a moment of pride and deep sadness, that of the families and that of the entire nation”.
The President sent his condolences to the Romanian people for the death of the Romanian pilot who perished in the helicopter crash and he read the letter of condolences that Romanian President Traian Basescu sent him. He ended by saying that, “every pilot who boards a helicopter is aware of the mission he has to fulfill, but also of the danger. There are nations who have the merit to not know from war, but we are a stiff-necked people who has suffered many battles who knows how to stand firm to protect its heritage and knows how to honor its sons. In one short moment, the nature of this land and the greatness of her sons met in tragedy.”
(YWN Israel Desk)
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One Response
“I think that the army is the most precious thing that the Jewish people has, and the sons who fought and have fallen are the most precious thing that the army has.”
What a politician. I don’t think even Peres is so foolish to think that the most precious possession of the Jewish People is the Israeli army. And secondly, the most precious part of an army is not its fallen but its successes. Its fallen are dear, tis true, but not the most precious.