Even as Israel gathers to mourn and remember its fallen, it can’t forget the threats still facing the State of Israel, chief among them the Iran’s Islamic regime, Yossi Cohen, the president of the Friends of the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization and former head of the Mossad, told some 400 members of Israel’s English-speaking community on Tuesday night at his group’s Yom HaZikaron ceremony in Jerusalem.

“The Iranian threat is not just a strategic challenge — it is a moral one. It is a test of our unity, our resilience, and our unwavering determination to defend our people and homeland,” Cohen said, speaking at the capital’s Museum of Tolerance. 

“The State of Israel must do everything in its power — diplomatically, politically, and if necessary, operationally — to ensure that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons. Such weapons would pose an existential threat to our nation, our people, and the very future of the Jewish state. Just as our fallen stood bravely against danger, so too must we stand resolute against those who threaten the very existence of our nation,” he said.

Cohen, who was named president of the organization in 2023, noted that this past year 319 Israelis have been killed in war or terror attacks, leaving behind 85 widows and 163 orphans. “These numbers are not just statistics, they represent shattered families, broken futures, and hearts that will never fully heal. Each one deserves not only our remembrance, but our ongoing support as well,” he said.

As Israel pays tribute to the fallen, it can’t ignore the “painful reality” of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza, he added. “The national mission to bring them home swiftly and safely must remain at the forefront of our collective conscience,” Cohen said.

The evening highlighted the personal stories of bereaved family members, with a symbolic empty yellow chair placed in the corner of the stage in memory of the hostages who are still being held captive by Hamas. A memorial torch was lit by Australian-born Pessie Gordon, the widow of American-born Staff Sgt. Naftali Yonah Gordon, 32, who was killed in combat in Gaza on Dec. 7, 2023. Ittai Hershberg, 12, whose father, Lt. Col. Yochai Gur Hershberg, fell on Dec. 5, 2023, during reserve duty as the commander of the EITAN unit (the IDF’s Missing Persons Unit), stumbled over the Aramiac words as he recited the Kaddish, his voice breaking at times.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Larry A. Mizel, chairman of the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem and Rabbi Marvin Hier, co-Chair of the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, as well as 30 foreign diplomats, attended the ceremony.

Seated on a sofa at the center of the stage, holding hands for support, Sigal Manzuri and Dafna Russo shared their personal stories as they struggle to adjust to a painful new reality. Manzuri lost her two daughters, Roya and Norelle, in the Nova festival massacre, where Norelle’s partner, Amit Cohen, was also killed. The pair were meant to get married this summer. Russo’s husband, Uri, was killed defending Kibbutz Kfar Aza as part of its security team on Oct. 7, the same day her nephew, Netta Epstein, was also murdered there. Every day is a day of missing and longing for her and her three daughters, Russo said. 

Manzuri recounted how she, her husband and 16-year-old son have turned the family dinner table into a sort of memorial for Roya and Norelle. Instead of falling into despair, she said, she knows she and her husband have to be parents for their son, Shai.

“I feel like I have been thrown into an unseen journey. It’s like you wake up in the morning and the entire world is different. It’s like you fall into a very deep black hole and there’s no way out, and you keep trying to find a way out,” Manzuri said, speaking to eJewishPhilanthropy before the ceremony. “I don’t want anybody, any other mother in the whole world, to feel what I feel. So first of all, we need to stop the war and we need to bring all the hostages back home.”

Manzuri said following the murder of her daughters and future son-in-law, she has made it her mission to make sure that their memory is not forgotten and to “spread their light.”

“We need to be better people. We need to try to spread light in this world. We need to be human. We need to understand that the Oct. 7 massacre was not only against the Jewish people, it was against humanity. And we need to be more human,” she said. “We need to learn all over again how to talk to each other and how to have a decent and respectful conversation: Israelis with Israelis, Jewish with Jewish, Israelis with Palestinians. Everybody. We need to remember that we all came from the same place and we’re going back to the same place. Nobody is different or better than the other.”

Yom HaZikaron serves as an opportunity for people to take a moment from their daily lives and to really remember those who have died, she said. It was difficult realizing that this was the second Yom HaZikaron that her family is spending as a bereaved family, she added.

“Every day we live our lives, and so we have to stop for a little bit and to remember those who lost their lives in different ways. And then we talk about it. Then, we share stories about them. We stand in one minute of silence for them. It’s really tough to realize that now I’m part of this family,” she said. “I am a bereaved mother, and we are a bereaved family. This title is really tough, but it’s a fact, and it takes time not to lose your breath when you hear it.”