Speaking at the main ceremony at Jerusalem's Mt. Herzl Cemetery, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu turned to the country's bereaved families, saying that the rest of the nation embraced them throughout the year.
"At this hour," he said, "here, and in all of the military cemeteries around the country, stand members of bereaved families, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, orphans and widows.
"I know that bereaved parents have no comfort and no forgetting," Netanyahu continued, alluding to the loss of his own brother, Yoni, who was killed during the Entebbe rescue operation in 1976. "Israel, including all of its citizens, is gathered around the families of the fallen, embracing them, bowing its head and remembering its heroes."
Netanyahu warned that despite striving for peace Israel would never compromise on its security and relinquish control of its future.
"We have no choice but to fight terror until it is obliterated and to defend our lives," he told The bereaved families.
"This is what we have done and what we are doing. The State of Israel, through the Israel Defense Forces, has responded with war, determination and diligence, with courage and sophistication, using an incomparable morality of combat," he said.
"Terror is a war crime, the indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians," the prime minister added.
"Our hand is extended in peace to all our neighbors. But our enemies should not misunderstand: We shall never compromise on our security, the security of the state of Israel. That is our obligation to the fallen, that is our obligation to the citizens of Israel, that is our obligation to coming generations," Netanyahu said.
''What has changed in Jewish history'', he continued, ''is not the hatred of the Jewish people, but our ability to defend ourselves. We will never abandon our fate again''.
