Remember the Jews who fought the Nazis

This coming weekend, countries around the world, including Israel, will mark the 70th anniversary to the Allied Victory over Nazi Germany with festive ceremonies. In Israel, the event will be attended by the president and prime minister.

This year, for the first time since the surrender of Nazi Germany, an initiative is seeking to make the surrender date into a national holiday in Israel. Victory Day Headquarters, an advocacy group founded by Russian businessman German Zakharyayev, has been working to promote a "Jewish Victory Day" which would pay tribute to the 1.5 million Jews who fought in the Allied armies. These fighters greatly contributed to the victory over Nazi Germany, yet their contribution is hardly acknowledged in Israel. The group suggests the 26th of Iyar, the Hebrew calendar date on which Nazi Germany surrendered.

Every Israeli child is familiar with the number of Jewish Holocaust victims (6 million), as they should be. However, not many Israelis are aware of the Jewish fighters and their contribution to the Allied victory. These Jewish fighters also later assisted in the building of the Israel Defense Forces.

Thousands of Mahal volunteers from the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and South Africa, among other countries, aided the IDF in its early days by providing it with knowledge and experience, particularly in naval and aerial warfare, with which native Israeli fighters were less familiar. The IDF also benefited from many Jews who had served in the Soviet and Polish militaries who later moved to the West before arriving in Israel.

The story of the Jewish fighters scarcely exists in the Israeli consciousness. We remember the partisan heroes, the ghetto fighters and the volunteers of the pre-state Jewish community in Israel, particularly Hannah Szenes. But we do not think about the Jewish fighters in the Allied Armies -- the Red Army, the U.S. Army and the armies of free Europe. These Jewish soldiers fought on the European, North African and even Pacific fronts.

Seven decades after the victory over the Nazis, this is perhaps our final chance to make this day a Jewish and Israeli holiday during which the entire Israeli public would honor the Jewish victory over those who wanted to destroy us. The Jewish courage and fighting spirit in World War II were of biblical proportions, because they demonstrated the bravery of a people battling to survive.

Just as we remember our victories thousands of years ago, it is important that we recall the victorious Jewish spirit in World War II, not just with ceremonies at the Knesset and Yad Vashem, but also in an official manner in schools and town squares, for us and for future generations.