My children were born more than a decade after 9/11. They belong to a generation that did not see it with their own eyes or experience that terrible day firsthand. A few months ago, we visited New York. For me, Ground Zero was a place we had to visit. I wanted them to see, understand, and absorb what happened there 25 years ago, the day evil and unimaginable cruelty struck the free world, its values, and everything it stands for. Standing exactly where the Twin Towers once stood, now marked by the names of those who were murdered, I told them something I believe with all my heart: Despite the horror and the pain, the free world and democracy prevailed. America is stronger than ever. It lives, grows, and flourishes. Not by forgetting the pain, but by carrying it alongside memory, resilience, and hope. I told them about the extraordinary courage of the first responders who, against every human instinct, went south into Lower Manhattan that day. Firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and countless others who risked their health, their lives, and their futures to save people they did not even know. 9/11 was a day when we witnessed absolute evil attacking everything we believe in, but it was also a day when we witnessed the extraordinary strength of a resilient nation, a nation whose spirit and unwavering commitment to freedom and democracy continue to inspire the world. Those of us who witnessed 9/11 have a duty to remember. We have a duty to tell the next generation, and every generation after it, what happened, truthfully and without distortion. We must defend freedom, we must defend democracy, and we must never take either for granted, especially in times when some seek to distort reality, we must remember history as it happened. Israel will always stand with the free world, and with our greatest ally, the United States of America. In good times and in bad. May the memory of the victims of 9/11 be a blessing. May the courage of the first responders remain forever engraved in our hearts.