Abigail Klein Leichman
April 24, 2017

Amir and Rotem Lev Zwickel, an Israeli couple living in New York, launched a mobile app called Standing Still that allows people anywhere in the world to stop and stand in silence during the Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israeli Memorial Day two-minute sirens, just as virtually all Israelis do.

“On Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day, April 24th, 2017, we call Israelis, Jews and Israel supporters around the world to download our app, donate to the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Survivors and to stand still with us during the Siren,” the Zwickels wrote in their description of the app on Google Play and iTunes.

“A week after the Holocaust Memorial Day, Israel honors its fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks (May 1st, 2017). The Standing Still app also allows you to donate to the Lone Soldier Center and to stand still with us during the two sirens heard in Israel in this memorial day. Please join us for this worldwide tribute and help us make a positive impact for these two important causes.”

Standing Still, the first project of The Israeli Connection, a nonprofit venture founded in 2016, reportedly was developed in collaboration with the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel and the Lone Soldier Center in Memory of Michael Levin.

Tel Aviv commuters stand silently as a two-minute siren is sounded across Israel to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. Photo by Miriam Alster/FLASH90

Sirens are sounded throughout Israel for two minutes at 10am on Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah); for one minute as night falls on the eve of Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron) and for two minutes at 11am on Memorial Day.

Israeli stop whatever they are doing to stand silently in respect, even pulling over on highways and getting out of their cars.

Users of the app can choose to hear the siren in real time or at some other time.

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