On what would typically be a night of fireworks and dancing, a single violin told Israel’s story of heartbreak and hope. Agam Berger, a young woman recently freed from Hamas captivity, opened Israel’s 77th Independence Day with a moving tribute, her melody intertwining with a solemn prayer for the 59 hostages who remain in Gaza. Standing on stage alongside cantor Dudu Fisher, Berger’s performance struck a deep chord in the hearts of Israelis across the country.

As Israel marked its most solemn and celebratory days Memorial Day and Independence Day thick plumes of smoke darkened the skies over Jerusalem’s hills. In an extraordinary mobilization, the Israeli Air Force deployed its Samson aircraft, known globally as the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules, to join more than 150 ground teams battling infernos near the capital.

In a fiery rebuke of growing incitement against Israel, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has called out Arabic media and terror groups like Hamas for promoting arson as a tactic of terror. In a statement posted on social media, Huckabee expressed outrage at calls to commit acts of environmental and civilian destruction, saying, “Israelis live every day with constant threats from uncivilized savages like Hamas seeking to murder civilians and destroying even the trees.”

In a deeply emotional tribute that transcended borders and languages, thousands gathered at the Jerusalem Theater on Israel’s Remembrance Day to honor 43 Lone Soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the Jewish state during the Iron Swords War. These brave individuals, many of them immigrants without immediate family in Israel, stood on the front lines from the very outset of the October 7 Hamas massacre and continued to serve with valor in the weeks that followed.