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Happy Yom HaAtzmaut to Israel on its 78th Independence Day.
Israel’s story is one of courage, perseverance, and national rebirth. Against all odds, the Jewish state has become a beacon of strength, innovation, and resilience all while under the constant threat of existential, genocidal violence against it.
Today we celebrate Israel, its people, and the miracle of its independence, sovereignty, and the freedom it protects for all of its citizens. 🇮🇱
Anderson Cooper’s interview with Rachel Goldberg-Polin on 60 Minutes brought back some painful memories of October 7, including the moment Rachel learned there was footage showing her son Hersh being kidnapped by Hamas after his hand was severed by the terror attack. Cooper said he realized, during an earlier interview with Hersh’s parents, that he had seen their son in that video.
Rachel said that the proof Hersh had been taken alive was in some way a form of hope. Hersh was executed after 328 days in Hamas captivity.
The Goldberg-Polins’ grief is unimaginable, but their strength is far greater.
As the Yom HaZikaron siren sounded in Jerusalem last night, IDF soldiers on duty stood still in silence with the rest of the nation.
This year’s Memorial Day hits especially hard as Israel is mourning the loss of so many brave soldiers who recently gave their lives defending the country against terror, including in the fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The entire nation stands still to remember its fallen heroes and all those innocent lives stolen by terror.
Ahead of Yom HaZikaron, 60 Minutes aired one of the kinds of testimonies that stays with you. Hamas captivity survivor Or Levy, and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was abducted by Hamas and later murdered in captivity, spoke about grief, memory, and how to keep living after unimaginable loss. Hersh was executed in a tunnel in Gaza after 328 days in captivity.
For so many, Hersh’s now-famous mantra, taken from Viktor Frankl’s famous book Man’s Search for Meaning, captured something essential: purpose, even in unbearable darkness. As Israel moves into its day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and terror victims, that message lands with even more force.
Yom HaZikaron lives in the voices of survivors, in the words of parents, and in the memories of those who are no longer here. This 60 Minutes segment is a reminder that behind every national day of mourning is a family still learning how to cope with loss.
A remarkable scene in New York: hundreds gathered in Central Park to dedicate a bench to the hostages of October 7, in a ceremony wrapping up more than two years of weekly advocacy for the captives. The new bench honors both the hostages and the people who kept showing up for them, week after week, rain or shine.
The flags in the crowd told the story. Israeli and American flags, and one Lion and Sun flag. Then the crowd sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” That moment exemplified that the new memorial isn’t only about remembrance but also about the solidarity between free people against terror, and about standing together against the extremist forces that threaten Israelis, Americans, Iranians, and so many others.
Eliya Cohen spent 505 days in Hamas captivity, where he later said he was starved, abused, and tortured. Now free, he described a moment on the street when a woman was preaching to him about Israeli actions in Gaza. He did not mock her, nor did he fight against her. He just asked her to google his name, and her entire worldview shifted in an instant.
That moment says everything about the lack of knowledge on the part of “pro-Palestine,” demonstrators. So many people have spread misinformation and slogans about Israel for so long, that most people know almost nothing about the hostages, the massacres, or the truth of Hamas. They have been handed a narrative, and they continue to repeat it without thinking.
The answer lies not in silence, but in truth. If people don’t know, then show them. If they’ve been lied to, explain the reality. Eliya’s story shows that one honest encounter with reality can break through the propaganda.
🎥: benbenbaruch
On Yom HaZikaron, Israel remembers the 25,648 fallen soldiers who have died defending Israel since 1851 (the re-establishment of the Jewish settlement in Israel), along with well over 5,000 victims of terror. 79 Israeli civilians have been murdered by terror since last Memorial Day, many under the recent Iranian ballistic missile fire.
This is a day of grief, memory, and national mourning. It’s a day to honor the lives of all the brave soldiers who have given their lives defending the Jewish state, and for the civilians murdered in terror attacks simply because they were Israeli and/or Jewish.
May their memories always be a blessing.
A disturbing new report says Palestinian women are coming forward with allegations of abuse by Hamas members inside Gaza, including sexual abuse and exploitation tied to food access and the group’s broader control over daily life and everyday women’s autonomy.
The Daily Mail says women described being threatened, harassed, and controlled by Hamas figures who acted as though they were above all accountability.
That’s the reality so many people still refuse to confront: Hamas doesn’t only kidnap and murder Israelis, it also brutalizes Palestinians. A terrorist regime that rules through fear, coercion, and abuse is just as much of a danger to the people trapped under its’ rule.
