Each Name Remembered | Solidarity Trip 2025 Testimony
Elisabetta Gasparoni writes that to fully understand 'Never Again' you need to visit Israel, and that it was only during our solidarity trip that she discovered how each individual life is valued, and how the names of the fallen are remembered.
On Wednesday June 4th, at 7pm, Elisabetta and others who attended the solidarity trip will be sharing photos and reports of their experiences in Israel at an event in London and online. The event is free to join. You can book tickets for the live stream here:
If you would like to attend the London event in person, please contact us directly for details.
“Israel? Isn’t it dangerous?” my mom said when I told her that I was joining Mark, Kurpa and the wonderful people of the Our Fight Solidarity Delegation to Israel. And since Israel is attacked by Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, IRGC, and the UN Bureaucrats, I did not know what to expect.
As soon as we landed it became all very real–this was a country at war to free Israelis. Photographs of hostages and of soldiers, policemen and civilians killed by Hamas since October 7th, were visible from the start, the moment you enter Israel. In different format and different media, their photographs–together with banners declaring “Bring Them Home”–were present wherever we went.
And wherever we went, there were also young men and women in uniform carrying weapons. Their determination to defend their country and to bring all the hostages home was clear from the way they responded in their thousands to the government’s call to the army the day after October 7th.
In Israel I felt safe, yes, for the presence of soldiers and police force but not just for that.
Each Name Remembered
The day after we arrived to Jerusalem, we went to Yad Vashem–The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Yad Vashem literally means “a memorial and a name” and it is the national depository for the names of Jewish victims of the Shoah who have no one to carry on their name after death. It is an impressive and moving effort to remind the world that every one of those 6 million Jews had a name, a family, a community they belonged to and the wonders of their future possibilities.
As we repeatedly discovered: life in Israel is valued–each name is remembered.
In the National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers, the walls of the hall wrap around a tall torch-like structure which is covered with the names of the fallen. The name and the date of passing of each soldier is engraved in each individual stone of the structure. The female soldier that guided us told us that every morning a memorial service is held in order to honour those who fell on that specific date and the individual stone is illuminated within the walls of the hall–every one of the fallen has a memorial day, she explained and the “eternal flame” at the centre of the hall symbolises Israeli’s collective duty to commemorate them.
Hostage Square
In Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, we listened to survivors talking about their experiences. Under a gigantic electronic screen that counts the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds since the attacks of October 7, we saw hundreds of people gathered in support of the families of the hostages that died and of those that are still in captivity. Their dignified suffering is difficult to describe.
Recognition and Remembrance
The recognition and remembrance of the individual lives lost–because they were Israelis, because they were Jews and because they fought for Israel–keep the history and culture of Jewish people alive and creates an amazing sense of solidarity and of community among Israelis.
If you visit the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau you will be left in no doubt as to why it is vital to remake the promise of “Never Again”. But you won't full understand this necessity unless you visit the State of Israel: “Never Forget” is becoming more urgent the ever.
