(Communicated by the MFA Spokesperson)
Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid held a ceremony at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs today to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The ceremony was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister, Idan Roll, Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Israel, Michael Ratney, Israeli Ambassador to the US, Mike Herzog, Israeli Consul General in New York, Asaf Zamir, and senior staff of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
During the ceremony, which was held at the Foreign Ministry’s flag pavilion, the US flag was lowered to half-mast by Marines stationed at the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
FM Lapid stated at the ceremony: “As we mark 20 years since that terrible day, I want to send a message to the people of the United States and all those who seek to harm them: An attack on America, is an attack on us. We share the same values of freedom. Of equality. Of tolerance. And we share the same enemies. America is our greatest friend and ally. An attack on our friends, is an attack on us."
Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Israel, Michael Ratney, stated at the ceremony: “We lower the flag remembering the shock and horror of one dreadful morning. And we raise the flag recalling how America and its friends and allies and partners – most definitely including Israel – recovered from that initial shock to deliver a new, concerted, global drive against terrorism."
FM Lapid added: “Terror seeks to cause fear. But it only wins when it changes our beliefs, when it changes our way of life. Twenty years after that terrible day, terrorists across the world know that they have failed. America did not bend, and it did not break. The American spirit, ‘We Shall Overcome,' prevailed once more."