Israel’s Independence Day ceremony to cut to pre-taped rehearsal in case of protests
Israel’s Independence Day ceremony, in Jerusalem, in 2022. Photo by Ohad Zwigenberg/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.
An Israeli government minister instructed organizers of the Independence Day ceremony in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl to broadcast a recording of the dress rehearsal instead of the live broadcast, in case members of the audience begin to protest during the event, Channel 12 News reported Tuesday evening.
The decision was made at a discussion initiated by Likud lawmaker and Transportation Minister Miri Regev, along with security officials, including Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, in order to prepare for provocations at the event in light of the government’s plans to weaken the judicial system.
The effectiveness of Regev’s move is limited, since footage of any protest via audience members’ cell phones is expected to reach social media and news networks. The organizers of the ceremony will take additional steps to prevent a protest at the event, including further verification of the identity of invitees and preparation for the possibility that demonstrators will block the roads leading to Mount Herzl.
On Tuesday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with the Public Council for the Commemoration of IDF Soldiers to advocate for the participation of elected officials in state ceremonies during the National Memorial Day, saying that politicians “serve as a symbol…each according to their role,” and therefore “should be present in the military cemeteries on this holy day.”
Gallant remarks came a day after Israel’s Kibbutz Movement announced that it has rescinded the Defense Minister’s invitation for the group’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers service next week at the direct request of bereaved families, who said they could not accept “inviting a government representative to a memorial ceremony at a time like this.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
