Non-Jewish Soldiers To Be Buried in Same Section as Jews at Har Herzl
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon is expected to announce Sunday that non-Jewish soldiers will be buried in the same sections as Jewish soldiers in military cemeteries – but in different rows.
The decision follows an incident on Memorial Day when the IDF chief of staff chose not to place a flag at the grave of a fallen soldier whose Judaism was in doubt.
As a result of Sunday’s announcement, MK Elazar Stern (Hatnuah) is expected to shelve a bill under which soldiers whose Judaism is in doubt would be buried alongside their Jewish comrades.
On Memorial Day, instead of placing a flag at the grave of the most recent soldier buried at Mount Herzl, Yevgeny Tolochko, Chief of Staff Benny Gantz placed it at the grave of the most recent Jewish soldier.
Stung by criticism, the Israel Defense Forces and Defense Ministry changed the procedure so that the chief of staff places a flag at the grave of the last soldier buried, not simply the last soldier buried in the main section.
Read more at Haaretz.com.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
