First publication: Netanyahu decided not to participate in the events of the 76th Independence Day of the State of Israel, including the Israel Prize ceremony and the Bible Quiz. A source privy to the details said that the reason was fear of protests. The Prime Minister’s Office refused to comment on the news.
At the beginning of the month, Minister of Transportation Miri Regev, who is in charge of the beacon ceremony and independence events, announced that the beacon lighting ceremony to mark the 76th anniversary of the State of Israel, will be held without an audience and will be filmed in advance. “Already at the beginning of the work on the beacon ceremony, Minister Regev made it clear that this year’s ceremony will be different in format and adapted to the spirit of the times,” said her representative.
In fact, for the first time, the memorial part of the ceremony will depart from Mount Herzl and will include the broadcast of the lighting of memorial flares in kibbutzim, moshavim, settlements, cities, the site of the parties, councils and IDF bases in the Gaza Envelope that suffered heavy losses on October 7.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the Plenum, Archive | Photo: Yonatan Zindel, Flash 90
Although some of the abductees’ families and other activists have announced that they will protest at the ceremony, Regev does not connect the fear of a protest with the decision. The minister justified her decision and claimed that all the exceptional circumstances of this year were considered following the massacre in October and the war that Israel is still in the midst of. “The overall public climate: bereavement, loss and deep pain of the people of Israel and the longing, alongside the determined efforts to return the abducted and the abducted,” her statement read.
Meanwhile, the government today authorized Minister Regev to adjust and change the format of the beacon lighting ceremony this year only. “As part of the change and adaptation of the beacon lighting ceremony this year, the restriction on the number of bearers per beacon will be removed, as well as components that were customary in it will be added or removed,” the statement said.
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