Ceremony controversy: Disputes over national day ceremonies in Israel

The upcoming Remembrance Day and Independence Day will be imbued this year with new meaning. 

Families of over 600 soldiers and over 1,200 civilians joined the ranks of Israel’s bereaved marking Remembrance Day, and the entire country will mark its 76th year of independence at arguably one of its most precarious moments ever.

But at issue is not just national security. Social and political tensions are running high over the government’s conduct prior to, during, and since the Hamas massacre on October 7.

 The raw emotions could break out on Remembrance Day and Independence Day and could lead to ugly scenes such as shouting matches at military cemeteries or attempts to disrupt official events.

Controversy causes divide in the country

Although the circumstances are different, Israel faced a similar problem last year due to controversy over the government’s judicial reforms.

Indeed, shouting matches broke out between bereaved families at some cemeteries on Remembrance Day, and many feared that the annual Independence Day torch-lighting ceremony would be disrupted as well.

In this respect, it is worth differentiating between Remembrance Day and Independence Day.

On Remembrance Day last year, some politicians tried to lower the flames. A number of Knesset members from the coalition paired up with opposition MKs at cemeteries in order to project unity. 

Some ministers chose to forgo their traditional speeches at cemetery ceremonies, and sufficed with laying wreaths. Others refrained from attending cemeteries altogether.

Similar measures should be taken this year, official commemoration organization Yad Labanim chairman Eli Ben-Shem said in a conversation with The Jerusalem Post.

According to Ben-Shem, this year emotions are higher and rawer than they were last year, and the potential for terrible scenes of discord are much higher.

Ben-Shem described the steps he has taken to try to avoid this. He asked the Prime Minister’s Office to decide wisely on placements of ministers at cemeteries. 

Unfortunately, this was not done, and residents sent dozens of letters against placements such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in the liberal Kfar Saba, or Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman in Rehovot. 

The government scrambled to change the placements. Smotrich was moved to Ofakim, and Silman to Dimona, and more changes will be made, Ben-Shem said.

Ben-Shem also penned a petition to urge the public to “maintain the sanctity of Remembrance Day” and “avoid arguing over the graves of our sons and daughters.” He had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz, and opposition head Yair Lapid sign the petition, and will publish it in all of Israel’s newspapers on Sunday.

But Ben-Shem acknowledged the levels of raw emotion.

“What can I say to a [bereaved] woman who screams at me that she does not want politicians [at the remembrance ceremonies]? I can only hug her and hang my head,” Ben-Shem said.

He concluded that he was praying that events this year do not get out of hand.

WHILE REMEMBRANCE Day this year seems appropriate for the somber national mood, the usually high-spirited Independence Day celebrations are raising far more controversy.

At the center of the controversy is the traditional annual torch-lighting ceremony at Mount Herzl, which marks the shift from Remembrance Day to Independence Day.

The ceremony is traditionally broadcast live on all of Israel’s major television channels, includes state-of-the-art pyrotechnics, live music, dance, and theater, and enjoys high popularity and ratings. At the heart of the ceremony are 12 torches lit by exemplary figures symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel. The torch-lighters usually speak briefly and then declare “to the glory of the State of Israel.”

Put simply, Israel should not be feeling glorious with over 130 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, hostage family members have argued. 

The country should either cancel the ceremony altogether or alter it so that it reflects the tragedy and trauma of October 7 and the months since, they have said in multiple forums.

The counterargument is that precisely this year, Israel needs a morale booster, and this does not contradict or minimize the tragedy of the war and hostages.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who has led most of the Independence Day celebratory events in the past decade and is responsible for them this year as well, has tried to take a middle ground: to conduct an uplifting ceremony while taking into account the tragic circumstances.

Nearly all of the torch-lighters relate to the war and include security personnel, search and rescue volunteers, individuals who acted heroically on October 7, and even a freed hostage, Ori Megidish. 

Regev announced on Thursday that the 12th torch this year will not be lit and will symbolize the hostages in Hamas captivity.

The first part of the ceremony traditionally addresses Remembrance Day, and Regev added that this section will be significantly longer than in the past, in order to reflect the losses of the past seven months, and Regev said that the artistic parts of the ceremony will reflect the hardship of the moment.

Yet many family members of hostages, politicians from the opposition, and others pointed out a number of insensitive decisions regarding the ceremony that reflect aloofness and are out of touch with the reality on the ground.

The criticism began already in late December, when the government announced two decisions.The first was that the ceremony’s title will be “Israeli Heroism.” Some families of hostages argued that this showed a lack of empathy toward the hostage families.

The second was that Regev herself, and not the statutory Ministerial Committee for Ceremonies and Symbols, will be responsible for the ceremony.

Knesset members from the opposition argued that it was “inconceivable that the Independence Day ceremony, which is supposed to be a unifying and significant moment for all segments of the nation, will be managed in a completely centralized and nontransparent manner... and will be subject to arbitrary decisions by one minister.”

Accusations of politicization and insensitivity continued during the following months. Regev decided that the ceremony would be prerecorded without a live audience, citing “security concerns.” She did not say what these concerns were, and critics argued that the real reason was to avoid disruptions and protests that could embarrass the government.

Then came the filming of the ceremony itself. The first part of the ceremony will include video segments from 12 different towns in the Gaza border area that were infiltrated on October 7. 

Filming crews spent hours at these sites, and critics argued that the government shouldn’t be turning towns into film sets while the residents themselves are still evacuated. Indeed, Kibbutz Be’eri refused to enable a segment to be filmed on its grounds.

In addition, Haaretz reported that the film segment at the site of the Supernova music festival massacre included dancers and actors depicting some of what occurred there. 

Some of the dancers told Haaretz that the segment was inappropriate and grotesque. The ceremony’s organizers said that part of that segment was removed but not all of it.

The torch-lighting ceremony traditionally did not include an address by the prime minister, but Regev in the past was the first to include a video blessing from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Critics argued that the purpose of these heavily edited and dramatized video blessings was to portray adulation for Netanyahu in one of the most-watched television broadcasts of the year, with some even deeming them “North Korean” in style. A video blessing from Netanyahu will be given this year as well.

For these reasons and out of anger over the government’s conduct before and after October 7, families of hostages initiated an alternative ceremony, which they called a “torch-extinguishing ceremony.” 

According to organizers, some of the torches to be extinguished will be a “torch of displacement,” a “torch of neglect,” a “torch of contempt,” and a “torch of abandonment”. The families will then light a torch that they are calling “the torch of hope.”

The families in a statement called the official ceremony “political, disconnected, improper, and degrading.”

“While the government is trying to legitimize the abandonment of the hostages and celebrating heroism as if the affair is over, we will recognize the ongoing heartbreak,” the families said in a statement, adding that its ceremony will “recognize the difficult reality and not deny it in an extravagant ceremony that aggrandizes those who abandoned us.”

As of Tuesday, over 60,000 citizens signed an online petition that Israel’s central television channels broadcast the alternative ceremony instead of or alongside the official one.

NO MATTER which ceremony one chooses to watch, or whether one agrees with the format of this year’s torch-lighting ceremony, the tensions ahead of the upcoming week are symptoms of broader arguments at hand.

There is anger and frustration from the Center and Left over Netanyahu’s refusal to take responsibility for October 7 or to lay out a detailed plan for the day after the war, and there is anger and frustration from the Right over continued delays in military action in Gaza and over concessions the government is willing to make in a hostage deal.

There are families of hostages who believe that the government needs to do more to free their loved ones, and families of soldiers killed in action who believe that defeating Hamas needs to come first.

The fact of the matter is that for the second straight year, Israel is marking two of its most important national days amid social strife.

Even if all goes well with the ceremonies, these broader issues will continue to plague Israel for the foreseeable future.