Haredi ministers cancel attendance at military ceremonies on Remembrance Day

Amid a sharp controversy over the participation of ministers and MKs in memorial ceremonies, the nation will mark Remembrance Day beginning Monday night with the sounding of a siren at 8:00 p.m., followed immediately by the national memorial ceremony at the Western Wall, with President Isaac Herzog, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevy in attendance.

Some 24,213 pre-state fighters and IDF soldiers have died in battles since 1860, according to an announcement by Israel’s defense ministry on Friday. 59 soldiers died in the past year, and an additional 86 disabled veterans died as a result of wounds sustained during their military service, the ministry said.

Remembrance Day also commemorates victims of terror. Some 4,255 people have been killed since 1851, 31 of them during the past year, according to the defense ministry.  

Remembrance Day this year comes amidst months of social turmoil over the government’s proposed judicial reforms, and thousands of bereaved families requested last week that politicians refrain from attending ceremonies at military cemeteries this year due to possible protests and commotion.

Gallant refused the requests, arguing that ministers and Knesset members represented the state and their presence had symbolic value. However, a number of ministers announced on Sunday that they would respect the families’ wishes.

Housing and Construction Minister MK Yizhak Goldknopf and Culture and Sports Deputy Minister Yaakov Tessler from the United Torah Judaism party canceled their participation in Remembrance Day ceremonies in the Kiryat Gat and Beer Tuvia military cemeteries on Sunday, after bereaved families requested last week that politicians refrain from attending the cemeteries this year due to the social upheaval of the past three months.

Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan (Likud) has also canceled her participation in the Remembrance Day ceremony that she was scheduled to appear at, saying that her decision was made following a request from the family.

Likud MK Boaz Bismuth will attend the Kiryat Gat ceremony instead of Goldknopf, Walla reported.

“I have always said and I say it again now – I bow my head completely in front of bereaved families,” she said of the decision. “Their request is a command for me.”

In a letter to the head of the Kiryat Gat branch of Yad L’Banim, an organization of bereaved families that is responsible for the ceremonies at the military ceremonies, Goldknopf wrote that while he had a strong desire to attend the ceremony, he did not want to cause “discomfort”. The housing and construction minister wrote that instead he would go to the Western Wall to read Psalms in honor of the fallen soldiers.

The chairman of the Yad L’Banim organization, Eli Ben Shem, told Army Radio that he “very much appreciated” their decision. Ben-Shem criticized Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for insisting on ministers attending the ceremonies, and warned that commotions could occur especially at cemeteries where ministers who did not serve in the IDF are scheduled to speak.

Minister within the Education Ministry Haim Biton, a member of the Shas party, also announced that he would be canceling his participation in the Remembrance Day ceremony in Rehovot. Health Minister and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of Shas, who served in the IDF, will replace him, according to Army Radio.

Ben-Gvir continues plan to attend ceremonies

Out of the ministers and MKs who are scheduled to attend the ceremonies, bereaved families especially opposed National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir scheduled appearance at the Beersheba military cemetery. Some 23 bereaved families whose loved ones are buried in the Beersheba cemetery put a statement last week saying that the “draft evader, Kahanist, person who was convicted of supporting a terror organization and incitement to racism” should not attend.

Some politicians pushed back on the decisions to avoid the military cemeteries, especially by haredi ministers and MKs.

National Unity MK Matan Kahana called on Goldknopf to reverse his decision, and offered to go to the ceremony with him in order to display unity. Former Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked also responded, saying that the “exclusion of haredim from the cemeteries on Remembrance Day is a mistake,” and that it was “our duty, especially on the national days, to find common ground.”

“There are 364 days for divisiveness,” Shaked added.

Through Ben-Shem’s efforts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposition head Yair Lapid, Gallant and National Unity head Benny Gantz issued on Friday a rare joint statement calling on all Israelis to “leave the controversy this Remembrance Day outside of the military cemeteries.”

“This is a day for silencing out controversy, all of us, and making room for pain and memory,” said the Israeli leaders. “The holiness of the fallen and the respect that we feel for the bereaved families connects us together — over the graves of our loved ones, we’re all brothers. We’re all one nation,” they said.

Over 115 heads of local authorities also issued a joint statement on Friday calling for respect for Remembrance Day.

“On Remembrance Day, in the cemeteries and ceremonies throughout the country, we will sanctify the fallen whose deaths granted us our lives in the land of Israel,” said Center for Local Government head Haim Bivas. “We will rally around the bereaved families and give them all the respect they deserve.”

IDF chief of Staff Herzi Halevi made a similar request in a letter published on Sunday morning.

“It’s on us to respect the cemeteries and not to turn them into arenas of debate,” said Lieutenant-General Halevi. “Restraint and silence have a deafening power, and paying respects for our fallen loved ones isn’t possible with the noise of argument.”

Michael Starr contributed to this report

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