Matthew Gould, the British Ambassador to Israel, joined a service of remembrance yesterday to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian service people.
Dozens of World War Two veterans who served in the British armed forces, along with diplomats, British citizen living in Israel and members of the public came together on Sunday at the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery in Ramle for the annual services of remembrance.
The ceremony was led by British Defence Attaché Colonel Philip Stack, with an address by Matthew Gould. The ambassador said, “The challenges we face change but the virtues needed, the virtues shown by the fallen, stay the same – vision , courage, collective purpose, a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the future and, as we demonstrate today, a determination not to forget our history. If we forget how painfully freedom is won, we will lose it. If we take it for granted, it will not survive. To be guardians of our children’s future we must keep faith with our ancestors’ past.”
The Reverend Canon Samuel Fanous of the Emmanuel Anglican Episcopal Church in Ramleh and IDF Rabbi Major Menahem Edri led prayers for the fallen. Representatives from foreign diplomatic missions laid wreaths on the Stone of Remembrance. A short service was also held in the Jewish section of the cemetery, where the tradition Jewish mourning prayer of Kadish was read for the Jewish soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the British and Commonwealth forces.
Link to photographs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ukinisrael/
