Israel’s Knesset Speaker Nixes Christmas Tree
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Israeli Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said it would be inappropriate to place a Christmas tree on prominent display in the Knesset following a request from a Christian lawmaker.
Edelstein suggested in a statement released Sunday that Hanna Swaid of the Israeli-Arab Hadash party, who is Christian, place a Christmas tree in his office or in the party’s faction room.
“I do not believe it appropriate to order the erection of a Christmas tree as you requested,” Edelstein wrote. Swaid on Sunday told Israeli media that he was disappointed in Edelstein’s response.
“The public space does not only belong to the Jewish majority. It should show other groups,” he told The Jerusalem Post.
Swaid had sent a letter to the speaker at the end of last week requesting that he place a Christmas tree at the entrance to the Knesset or in a “visible place.” He said it would be “a gesture toward Christian members of Knesset and citizens of Israel, and a symbol of [Israel’s] ties to the Christian world.”
Also on Sunday, Israeli President Shimon Peres visited the Franciscan Catholic Church in Ramla in honor of Christmas. He was welcomed by children in Santa hats singing Christmas songs in English, Arabic and Hebrew.
“It is a special occasion for us to be able to celebrate Christmas all together — we all pray to the same Lord and we all pray for the same thing — for the Lord to provide peace to us all and in particular that the young girls and boys will now know anymore wars and hatred,” Peres said in his greeting.
Leaders of several Christian denominations attended the event and each delivered a holiday greeting.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
