David Rokni, an Israeli IDF reserve colonel closely identified with the state torch-lighting ceremony at Mount Herzl, died on March 8, 2026, at age 94. No cause was disclosed. He became a familiar public figure through decades of involvement in one of Israel’s central Independence Day rituals.
Rokni was born in Kermanshah, Iran, on January 6, 1932. He immigrated to Israel in 1950 and joined Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov. He went on to serve for roughly 35 years in the Golani Brigade in staff and training positions. In the 1970s, he was sergeant major of Bahad 11, a post that reflected the training and disciplinary work that defined much of his military career.
He later took on the public role for which he became nationally recognizable. Rokni served as commander of Israel’s Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl from 1983 to 2016, becoming a national symbol through the annual state ceremony.
A 2013 documentary about him and the ceremony, "The Ceremony," won the DocAviv Audience Award.