Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

WATCH: IDF Givati Brigade recruits sworn in at Western Wall

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu’s sons were among the young men joining the IDF.

Israeli soldiers during a swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, July 10, 2024. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.
Israeli soldiers during a swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, July 10, 2024. Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90.

A new cohort of Israel Defense Forces recruits was sworn into the Givati Brigade during a ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday evening.

The infantrymen received their purple berets after they swore to “maintain allegiance to the State of Israel, its laws, and its authorities, to accept upon myself unconditionally the discipline of the IDF, to obey all the orders and instructions given by authorized commanders, and to devote all my energies, and even sacrifice my life, for the protection of the homeland and the liberty of Israel.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich shared a video of the ceremony on X on Sunday night, saying: “What a nation. What an army. What youth. What an uplifting spirit and sense of mission.”

Smotrich’s son was among the recruits sworn into the brigade.

“We wish you and your comrades success in your mission,” continued the minister. “May your enemies fall beneath you, and may you be crowned with the wreath of salvation and the crown of victory.

“The Lord will guard your going and coming now and forever,” Smotrich tweeted, quoting Psalm 121.

Also among the soldiers who were sworn in on Sunday was the son of Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, the Arutz 7 outlet reported.

“These young soldiers, all they say to me is, ‘Let the IDF win,’ and we will let them. We will let them because we are the good people, we are the moral nation,” Eliyahu told Arutz 7 on the sidelines of the event.

“The devils who are in Gaza or Iran or in all those other places—they are the evil ones. We came to bring goodness, and we will win, with God’s help,” Eliyahu said. “Now, we are restoring honor to the Jewish people, restoring honor to the Master of the Universe. And we pray to the Master of the Universe: Look upon these sweet children and grant them victory.”

See more from JNS Staff
The Vermont senator noted that Israel was attacked on Oct. 7, but still said the Jewish state was committing war crimes like Russia and Sudan.
“The Jedwabne Pogrom is a warning of what can happen when we allow antisemitism and hate to go unchallenged,” Agnieszka Markiewicz of the American Jewish Committee said.
The sanctions target a global financial network that enriches Iran’s ruling elite and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps while restricting Tehran’s access to foreign currency, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
A Democratic consultant told JNS that those supporting Platner “were more interested in overthrowing the Democratic establishment than they were in actually winning races against Republicans.”
The Democratic contenders for U.S. Senate in Michigan remain statistically tied in a new poll, as foreign policy and Israel emerge as flashpoints in the campaign.
Videos appear to show crowds in The Hague chanting slogans, including “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas,” after France advanced with a 2-0 victory.