Israeli flags being raised at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

A school in Sderot (next to Gaza) was practicing today for the Yom HaAtzmaut ceremony they will be giving on Independence Day this week.

This is a song called "Open your heart"

On 12 June 2014, 3 Israeli teenagers were kidnapped at the bus/hitchhiking stop in Gush Etzion. They were 16 year old Naftali Frenkel, 16 year old Gilad Shaer and 19 year old Eyal Yifrah.

On 30 June, their bodies were found. They had been all shot dead, execution style, shortly after the abduction.

I recall the day we found out very clearly, the next night was Shabbat and I was at my mother-in-laws place for Shabbat dinner. While I was reciting the kiddush prayer before we eat the meal, I burst out into tears from the thought of it and I struggled to complete it but managed, It was a rough time for everyone.

This song and video takes you back on that almost mystical journey from the time of the kidnapping, the Shuvu Achim (Return our Brothers) & Tzuk Eitan (Protective Edge) military operations to the funeral and the feelings of unity which swept Israel and the entire world.

May their memories be for a blessing

A beautiful song called "Eyal, Gilad, Ve'Naftali" by my friend Gila Perach Hirsh who wrote the music and lyrics. This was performed in Vienna by a Jewish physician named Clara Ferdinaro.

The song is about the 3 teens who were murdered by a terrorist in 2014. I made this video quickly so all could hear the song.

You can also listen to it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_tYeL6EdO0

Try read this without shedding a tear, I couldn't even write it without shedding tears.

This is Ella Ram. Her father, the late Sergeant First Class (Rasal) Elad Shlomo Ram, was killed on the last day of the Second Lebanon War after an anti-tank missile hit him while he was rescuing wounded soldiers. For his bravery under fire, Elad posthumously received a military citation. When he died, he was 31, Ella his daughter was only ten months old and so never met her brave father.

Continued below.....

Today, Ella is already 17 years old, she spoke about her father that she never knew: "Since I was born, my mother told me about my father, and today I feel very proud of him. In my perception, I know the person he was. I feel that my mother brought me up according to his values. I walk down the street and see a little girl jumping on her dad and it's upsetting. Even when I entered first grade, or at my Bat Mitzvah, in all the critical moments of my life, my father was not present. I am pained that he is not here to see who I have become. I constantly have a feeling of missing out.

People talk to me about how special and good and what a great hero he was, or about what wonderful advice he would give, and I didn't get a single piece of advice from him. I have a hole in my heart. A kind of longing that I don't know how to explain. It's not his voice or the touch I don't know, it's more a longing for the father I created in my head.

I will soon be enlisting in the army and one of the reasons I would like to enlist in combat service is to follow in my father's footsteps. Also to close a circle and try to understand some of the things he experienced, and also to save people if necessary.

My father saved people in the war and I know that some people say that without him they would not be here. I know he gave his life so that other families wouldn't fall apart. I used to be angry and say why didn't you watch over us and why weren't you more careful. Over time the anger fades away and I am mostly left with sadness"

May his memory be for a blessing and may Ella's broken heart heal.

A powerful image in the context of a dead IDF soldier looking down on the Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations which he died to make possible.

Never forget or take it for granted that while we celebrate Independence Day this week, that our celebrations and our good safe life is held up and made possible by the many who died defending this great country.

Image: Guy Morad

Happy new year to the Druze community for Ziyarat al-Nabi Shu'ayb!!!

I will add that the spiritual leader of the Druze community made a big decision to cancel this year's Druze New Year celebrations tomorrow out of respect for the fact that tomorrow is Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) for the IDF soldiers and other security forces as well as for the civilian victims of terror. The Druze community have also lost many great soldiers and security personnel who died in the line of duty, 494 to be exact, and they wish to rather mourn them than to celebrate their new year tomorrow.

So today they are celebrating it and they will postpone it tomorrow and resume the next day. Druze new year is always between the 25th and 28th of April.

Tonight, starting from the nationwide siren at 8pm, we will commemorate the 24,213 IDF soldiers and other security personnel who died defending the state of Israel as well as the 4,255 civilians who died from war or terror while simply doing every day things such as going to work or having lunch, since 1860.

May their memories be for a blessing!

I need to make a correction. Jordanian member of Parliament, Imad El-Adwan, was arrested by Israeli authorities after he tried to smuggle loads of weapons into Israel via the Jordanian border.