Halevi: I feel the weight of the Oct. 7 failure every day

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi stressed his responsibility for the failures that led to Hamas’s attack on October 7, as he helped open the country’s formal Remembrance Day ceremony at the Western Wall.

“I feel this weight on my shoulders every day, and in my heart, I fully understand its meaning.

“I bow my head in memory of the citizens we did not manage to save... and of the fallen men and women of the IDF’s reserves and regular duty, who have fallen in battles since the outbreak of the war and until today.”

“As the commander of the Israel Defense Forces in the war, I bear responsibility for the fact that the IDF failed in its mission to protect the citizens of the State of Israel on October 7,” he told those assembled at the Western Wall, as night fell.

The ceremony marked the start of the first Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Victims of Terrorism that the country has marked since the October 7 attack – in which over 1,200 people were killed and 252 kidnapped – and the resulting war.

This year, unlike other years, the country remembers the fallen soldiers from all wars, even as its soldiers are battling on two fronts, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in the North.

According to the IDF, 716 men and women in uniform have been killed since October 7, including police and those in volunteer defense teams guarding communities.

Halevi said, “I am the commander that sent your sons and daughters to the battle from which they did not return and to the places from where they’re kidnapped."

Halevy speaks on responsibility 

“I carry with me every day the memory of the fallen,” and he said he was responsible for answering the hard questions that the loved ones of the fallen have.

In addressing the family members of fallen soldiers, Halevi said, “I salute all the 25,040 fallen soldiers of Israel,” and highlighted the burden of commanders like himself, whose job it is to send soldiers off to war, knowing that some will not return, although with the realization that the ultimate sacrifice is necessary to defend the state.

He said the IDF was committed to “accomplishing our mission despite knowing the heavy price” of removing the threat posed by Hamas and returning the 132 hostages still held captive in the Gaza Strip.

Halevi spoke just after Remembrance Day began at 8 p.m. with a one-minute siren sounding across the country.

President Issac Herzog, who also spoke at the ceremony, said, “Every year, after the sounding of the shofar, there reigns here in the expanse of the Western Wall Plaza a sacred, special silence, preserved only for this moment of the year. But tonight, we have no peace, and there is no silence. Because this year is not like any other year.

October 7 marks another chapter of mourning

“This year, in addition to the mourning siren that commemorates our fallen since the beginning of our struggle, a new, prolonged, continuous siren has been added. A siren that began at 6:29 on the morning of the terrible national disaster on October 7, at the height of the joyous holiday of Simchat Torah. And it has continued alongside us ever since.”

Herzog then recounted stories of fallen soldiers and addressed the bereaved families, offering his gratitude for their service and explaining that “every name is a shattered world. Every name is a sacrifice. A void that will never be filled.”

Places of entertainment will be closed on Monday during Remembrance Day as commemoration events continue, and a two-minute siren will sound across the country at 11 a.m. ahead of official ceremonies, with the central event taking place at Mount Herzl where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lead mourners.

Military cemeteries will be packed with families mourning their loved ones ahead of Israel’s 76th Independence Day, which will begin at 8 p.m. when the stark transition from sadness to festivities will begin, albeit this year in a far more muted manner because of the Gaza war and its repercussions.

The raw emotions among families of the fallen and of the hostages, along with their animosity over the attendance of government ministers at ceremonies at cemeteries, have threatened to disrupt the solemnity of the two days.

Protests are expected to be held by some hostage families, as the organizers of the demonstrations have announced their intention to hold a “torch un-lighting” ceremony near Binyamina concurrently with the traditional torch-lighting ceremony at 8 p.m., which this year, for the first time, has been pre-recorded to avoid disruptions and protests. “Without the hostages, there is no independence,” the protest organizers declared.

Yad Labanim chairman Eli Ben-Shem penned a petition to urge the public to “keep the sanctity of Remembrance Day” and “avoid arguing over the graves of our sons and daughters.”

He got Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz, and opposition head Yair Lapid to sign the petition and published it in Hebrew newspapers on Sunday.