Israeli ministers back out of Memorial Day ceremonies after outcry from bereaved families
The military cemetery in Givat Shaul in Israel. Photo by Moti Milrod/Haaretz
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Three of the most controversial ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet scrapped on Sunday their scheduled participation in Memorial Day ceremonies at military cemeteries after bereaved families spoke out against their planned appearances.
Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distal Atbaryan, Construction and Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf, Deputy Culture Minister Yaakov Tessler had been among several ministers asked to cancel their appearances by Eli Ben-Shem, chairman of Yad Labanim, an organization commemorating Israel’s war dead and offering support to their relatives.
Ben-Shem said that thousands of bereaved families contacted the organization and asked that it act to prevent politicians from attending ceremonies. He added that he “fought to replace the people who didn’t serve in the army and for them to understand that they are not above the sanctity of the fallen.”
However, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who did not serve in the army, announced that he intends to attend and speak at the Memorial Day ceremony at the Be’er Sheva cemetery. Officials close to Ben-Gvir clarified that his speech will be “stately and embracing, without a word of politics.”
Distal Atbaryan, a member of Likud, wrote on Twitter that she had decided to cancel her appearance because “when it comes to bereaved families, I bow my head entirely – their request is, for me, a command. I will not anguish any parent or brother or son who belong to all the bereaved families.” But she added that her decision to be absent was “another testament to everything being politicized.”
Goldknopf, a member of United Torah Judaism, wrote to the chairman of Yad Labanim’s Kiryat Gat branch, Gabi Amar, that “alongside the bereaved families who wanted me to attend [the Memorial Day ceremonies] as the government’s representative, there are bereaved families for whom it might cause discomfort. This is not right, but I prefer not to hurt their feelings.”
The mayor of Be’er Tuvia said he did not plan on allowing Tessler to enter the town’s cemetery, after Haaretz revealed in an exposé that the deputy minister helped to silence a man who has alleged that Tessler’s father, Rabbi Efraim Tessler, had sexually abused him.
MK Tzvika Foghel from Otzma Yehudit similarly stated that he “was forced not to come to the cemetery and express his respect and sorrow for our fallen sons,” despite not being one of the lawmakers sent to represent the Knesset at the memorial ceremonies. Foghel, who served in the IDF as the head of the Southern Command at the rank of Brigadier General, stated that he would not lend a hand to “those who wish to use Memorial Day as a tool for their political teachings.”
Thousands of bereaved families have turned to Yad Labanim and asked the group to act to prevent politicians from coming to the cemeteries, said Ben-Shem. He mapped out at least four centers where protests are expected: The military cemetery in Be’er Sheva where National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of Religious Zionism is slated to appear, the cemetery in Nes Tziona that Distal Atbaryan was set to visit, the Ra’anana cemetery where deputy minister Michal Woldiger (a member of Ben-Gvir’s party) is expected to be present, and in Be’er Tuvia, the site of Tessler’s previously scheduled appearance.
“I have nothing personal against Ben-Gvir, I respect him, but on this day he should go to Hebron or the Mount of Olives, to places where they will honor and embrace him,” said Ben-Shem. “Why should Distal Atbaryan – who called pilots ‘weaklings fallen by the wayside’ – stand alongside the families of pilots who were killed? A little sensitivity is needed.”
Last week, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced he had decided that cabinet officials and lawmakers would attend the ceremonies as planned, in spite of defense officials’ fears of violent incidents in cemeteries.
“If they come and beginning to give a speech, then in the best case all the families will sing ‘Hatikvah’ and in the worst case they’ll throw eggs,” warned Ben-Shem. “If we see a lot of bereaved families fighting with one another then we can roll up the flag.”
Ben-Shem also criticized the request by the chairman of Yad Labanim in Kiryat Gat for Goldknopf not to come to the cemetery there. “He acted of his own initiative and did something he shouldn’t do,” he said. The chairman of the branch approached Goldknopf after receiving letters on the matter from dozens of bereaved families, and Ben-Shem said he would be summoned for a hearing with Yad Labanim’s management.
Residents of Be’er Tuvia, including bereaved families, have signed a petition over the past few days demanding that Tessler not come to the cemetery because of his opposition to the drafting of Haredim into the IDF, and the fact that he did not serve.
“He describes himself as the representative of a non-Zionist party that declares he is against his children enlisting in the army – how can such a man be the official at a military cemetery and speak while my brother is buried a meter from me?” asked Moshe whose brother – Air Force pilot Maj. Yair Rahmilevitch – fell in 1984 during his military service.
“The only reason that Tessler is coming to Be’er Tuvia is because he lives in Ashdod, about 10 kilometers away from the cemetery. If Tessler comes, we won’t be there,” said Moshe.
Ben-Shem said members of the Public Council for the Commemoration of Fallen Soldiers, which advises the defense minister, recommended to Gallant to avoid sending politicians who had not served in the military to the Memorial Day ceremonies.
Gallant “said that [Shimon] Peres had not served in the army either, and I didn’t like that,” Ben-Shem said. “He forgot that Peres was the director of the Defense Ministry and the founder of the nuclear program. … I have nothing against anyone who didn’t serve in the military, but on this day, everything needs to be about the sanctity of the fallen.”
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