Politicians have a “national duty and responsibility” to attend official ceremonies at Israel’s military ceremonies on Memorial Day on Tuesday, but must be extra sensitive to bereaved families in the current period of social upheaval, in order to avoid commotions at military cemeteries, National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz said ahead of his party’s faction meeting at the Knesset on Wednesday.
Gantz’s comments came in response to a large group of bereaved families’ repeated requests over the past few days that politicians stay away from military ceremonies this year and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s rejection of the request on Tuesday.
“We must show extra sensitivity this year, and maintain a respectful dialogue that honors the memory of the fallen [soldiers] and only it. To attempt to attend, coalition alongside opposition, in order to show that we are all unified on this day,” Gantz said.
“I respect the bereaved families who criticize us – I accept everything they say with love, and embrace them. Each and every one of them has a place in all of our hearts. Nonetheless, we all need to enter the [military] cemeteries with personal and national grief, and leave the public dispute aside, if only for one day,” Gantz said.
Opposition to ministers who didn’t serve
Many bereaved families especially oppose the participation in ceremonies of Knesset members or ministers who did not serve in the IDF, Eli Ben-Shem, the CEO of Yad Labanim, an organization that commemorates the memory of the fallen soldiers of Israel and cares for their families, said on KAN radio on Wednesday.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz places a floral wreath on a memorial at Mount Herzl on Yom Hazikaron. (credit: ARIEL HARMONI/DEFENSE MINISTRY)Out of 52 memorial ceremonies at military cemeteries, seven were scheduled to include Knesset members or ministers who did not serve in the IDF, Ben-Shem said. The highest profile out of the seven is National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is scheduled to speak in Beersheba. However, the defense ministry said that the placements were not final, Ben-Shem said. He expressed hope that the ministry make changes so as to avoid friction as much as possible.
Ben-Shem, along with approximately 30 other members of the Public Council for Commemorating Soldiers, a body that advises the defense minister on the issue, met with Gallant on Tuesday in order to express their concern that politician’s speeches will be disrupted by bereaved families who oppose the government’s proposed judicial reforms.
The defense minister insisted that politicians attend the ceremonies, arguing that elected officials were a symbol, and that the demand to remove them from cemeteries was equivalent to a demand to “fold the flag of Israel.”
KAN reported on Wednesday that the Shin Bet has become involved in the issue in order to work out the necessary security details for the politicians based on how much opposition they are expected to face from bereaved families.
While the Umbrella Movement of protest organizations against the judicial reforms said on Tuesday that it is not planning on staging protests on Memorial Day, an unaffiliated group of bereaved families called “With Their Death They Commanded” – short for the phrase “with their death they commanded us life,” but also of the phrase “with their death they commanded us democracy,” which group members displayed on their signs at protests – warned in response that rejecting their requests forces them to make a “vicious choice: shout, avoid [the cemetery], or be a ‘captive audience’ for politicians, some of whom did not serve in the army and who routinely spread hate, incitement and divisiveness.”
A different group of bereaved parents called “Bochrim Bachayim” (Choosing Life), which is not connected to the judicial reform, proposed earlier this week that politicians should attend ceremonies in pairs, one from the coalition and one from the opposition.
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