(
\n Apr. 22, 2026
\n \/ JNS
\n )<\/p>\n
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said \u201cprolonged years of fighting have reshaped Israel\u2019s security and fortified our existence,\u201d speaking at the President\u2019s Outstanding Soldiers Ceremony for Israel\u2019s 78th Independence Day.<\/p>\n
The ceremony at the President\u2019s Residence in Jerusalem, recorded earlier this week and broadcast on Wednesday, honored 120 outstanding soldiers and officers from across the IDF.<\/p>\n
President Isaac Herzog presented certificates and pins to the honorees, recognizing excellence, dedication, professionalism and responsibility.<\/p>\n
The event was attended by Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, senior military leadership and the families of the recipients.<\/p>\n
This marked the third consecutive year the ceremony has taken place during ongoing fighting, with all of the honorees having served in operational roles during the war.<\/p>\n
Of the 120 recipients, 69 are men and 51 are women, including 18 officers. Sixty-seven serve in combat roles, two in combat support positions and 51 in rear-echelon roles.<\/p>\n
The Association for the Wellbeing of Israel\u2019s Soldiers awarded academic scholarships to the honorees, including financial grants and iPads to assist with studies following their discharge.<\/p>\n
In remarks at the ceremony, Herzog highlighted the unique circumstances facing the current generation of soldiers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a normal year, an outstanding soldier rises above all others; in wartime, they do so under fire,\u201d Herzog said. \u201cYou are fighting the battles that future generations will study.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe all grew up on stories of heroism, but this generation surpasses them all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"( Apr. 22, 2026 \/ JNS ) Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-404930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}