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President Rivlin: Israel’s 69th Birthday Is “the Independence Day of All the Jewish People”

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said that his country’s 69th birthday marked “the Independence Day of all the Jewish people” in a video released Monday.

“Sixty-nine years ago, in the moments just after David Ben Gurion declared the birth of the State of Israel, we all went out to dance in the streets,” Rivlin recalled. “We celebrated a hope which came true: to be a free people in our land, in Jerusalem,” he said, translating a phrase from Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah.

Rivlin observed that his generation, “who dreamed to see an Israeli pilot fly above them,” have gotten “to see Israeli satellites circle the globe.” After seeking a home for “hundreds of years,” the Jewish nation “has built universities and Yeshivot,” seminaries for religious studies, the president observed.

Explaining that Israelis look to “turn challenges into opportunities,” Rivlin exhorted, “on this day, on our Independence Day, let us all work to be sure that our national home is a home that looks after the weak, and cares for its sons and daughters. This is the duty of our leaders, but it is also the duty of each and every one of us.”

On behalf of all Israelis, Rivlin thanked Jews across the world who “give so much to help Israel and Israeli society grow.”

Israel’s Independence Day, Yom Ha’atzmaut, started on Monday at 8 PM.

[Photo: President Reuven “Ruby” Rivlin / YouTube ]