Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog and Deputy Ambassador Eliav Benjamin chose not to attend the memorial ceremony for the murdered hostages at the Adas Israel synagogue in Washington earlier this week after their request to speak at the event was denied, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
The Hostage Families Forum organized the memorial ceremony in collaboration with a number of Jewish organizations.
At Tuesday's event, several relatives of the murdered hostages spoke, along with Doug Emhoff, husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris. Following the recovery of the murdered hostages' bodies, the Hostage Families Forum urged the public to protest against the government, accusing it of abandoning the hostages.
In the days before the memorial ceremony, the Israeli embassy approached the organizers and requested that the ambassador speak at the event.
Families not interested in having representatives of the gov't speak
The organizers refused, clarifying that the families were not interested in having representatives of the Israeli government speak at the ceremony, according to the four sources.
Later, the embassy approached the organizers again, suggesting that the deputy ambassador speak instead.
The event organizers responded that, from the families' perspective, there was no difference between the ambassador and the deputy ambassador, as both represent the government.
The sources noted that the organizers emphasized to embassy representatives that the ambassador and his deputy were invited to attend the event and added that the host would acknowledge their presence during the ceremony.
According to the sources, the Israeli ambassador and his deputy were upset that they were not allowed to speak at the ceremony.
The deputy ambassador informed the organizers that he and Ambassador Herzog would not be able to attend under these conditions—effectively boycotting the event.
The Israeli embassy in Washington confirmed that Ambassador Michael Herzog and Deputy Ambassador Eliav Benjamin did not attend the ceremony but noted that the embassy was represented by several other Israeli diplomats.