Israel’s military top brass honored living veterans of the 1948 War of Independence.
Defense Minister Ehud Olmert and armed forces chief Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi hosted some 11,000 veterans of the 1948 war at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on Sunday, part of ongoing celebrations of Israel’s 60th birthday.
Barak told his guests in a speech that their legacy to the Jewish state is “love of the homeland, affirmation of the justness of our national mission, solidarity, steadfast decisiveness and sincerity.”
Some 6,000 Jews — 1 percent of the population — were killed repelling Arab forces which attacked the nascent Jewish state after it declared independence.
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