This week, as mournful sirens pierce the air, bringing an entire nation to a standstill, Israel stands united in grief on Remembrance Day – our sacred day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terror.
The wail of these sirens tears through the national consciousness, reminding us with devastating clarity why Israel must remain resolute and strong in a region that has rarely allowed peace.
At Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, mothers trace weathered fingers over headstones, fathers kneel in silence, and young soldiers stand rigid with tears streaming down their faces. These are not abstract losses. They are sons and daughters whose laughter will never again fill family homes, whose futures were sacrificed so that others might have one.
At the very moment Israel honors those who gave everything, the nation is once again being dragged before the court of international opinion. In The Hague, hearings are underway at the International Court of Justice, where dozens of nations press accusations against Israel for blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel is being vilified for refusing to allow unrestricted supplies into territory controlled by Hamas – a terrorist organization that continues to hold Israeli civilians hostage in underground tunnels, in flagrant defiance of every norm of humanity and law.
Since March, Israel has limited supplies entering Gaza, linking their passage to the release of the 59 hostages kidnapped during the brutal October 7 massacre – a day of unspeakable horror that saw babies murdered in their cribs, the elderly slaughtered in their beds, and young people gunned down at a music festival celebrating peace. It was a day no nation should ever have to endure, yet the world seems determined to forget its savagery with frightening speed.
The world’s demands for “unhindered aid” ignore the bitter reality: Hamas has systematically exploited humanitarian corridors to smuggle weapons, build attack tunnels beneath UNRWA schools, and transform aid into tools of war. Cement meant for homes becomes terror tunnels. Medical supplies disappear into Hamas strongholds. Food intended for starving children is hoarded by terrorists. Israel acts not out of cruelty but from the obligation to protect its citizens from those who have repeatedly vowed to annihilate them.
Critics fail to comprehend that Israel carries the sacred obligation to safeguard its people. International law does not demand suicidal generosity toward those who have written Israel’s destruction into their founding charter. The same nations that condemn Israel would never allow aid to flow unchecked into territories controlled by forces planning their citizens’ massacre.
The accusations of the ICJ
The ICJ hearings, focused on accusations of “starvation” and violations of humanitarian law, distort a truth written in blood. They obscure the real architects of Gaza’s suffering: Hamas leadership, which has embedded military infrastructure within civilian neighborhoods and positioned command centers beneath hospitals. Israel is not engaged in genocide; Israel is fighting – with restraint that has cost dearly – for survival against an enemy that deliberately places innocent Palestinians in harm’s way.
Fresh flowers are being placed on thousands of graves across Israel. Candles flicker in the evening breeze. The faces in the photographs mounted beside headstones grow younger with each passing year – 18, 19, 20 years old – fresh-faced boys and girls who should be starting university, not lying beneath marble monuments.
These hearings unfold during Yom Hazikaron, when Israelis remember the unbearable price paid – generation after generation – simply to have a state at all. Each name read aloud at memorial ceremonies tells the story of why Israel cannot bow to international pressure when it comes to the security of its people.
As judges debate in The Hague’s comfortable chambers, Israelis stand at gravesides and reaffirm a painful truth learned through centuries of persecution: without strength, there is no Israel. Without resolve, there is no future for the Jewish people in their ancient homeland. The world may judge harshly today, but history will remember who stood for life and who exploited suffering for political gain.
This Remembrance Day, as silence envelops the nation, Israelis honor their fallen not just with tears but with unshakable determination. They will remember the sacrifice. They will mourn what might have been. And they will continue to fight – with courage, with morality, and with unwavering strength – for their right to live freely in the only place they have ever truly called home.
For the fallen. For the hostages. For the children who deserve to grow up without fear. For Israel.