The war of words over Israel’s official memorial ceremony to mark one year since October 7 rumbles on. Over the weekend, Transportation Minister Miri Regev insisted on her continued leadership of the state’s official commemoration of the October 7 attack, despite significant controversy.
President Isaac Herzog offered to host the event at his residence in an effort to depoliticize the ceremony, but Regev criticized this proposal, arguing that it was inappropriate for state ceremonies to be held at the President’s Residence and asserting that the event should take place in southern Israel.
Several Gaza communities have already refused to take part in the government-led ceremony, instead choosing to focus on their memorials. The government has been so worried about public backlash that they have prevented an audience from attending, as they did at this year’s Independence Day ceremony, and instead stated it will be pre-recorded. This pushback, by the way – representing the opinions and feelings of some of those directly affected on October 7 – has been described by Regev as “noise.”
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Herzog argued that hosting the ceremony under his jurisdiction would be “in the interest of dampening the flames of controversy and preventing unnecessary quarrels and disputes between different parts of society.”
He also emphasized that a ceremony held at the President’s Residence would be dignified, inclusive, and free of political influences. It would include traditional state symbols such as lowering the flag to half-mast and the recitation of Kaddish, the Jewish mourners’ prayer. He also clarified that this event would not interfere with the rights of various communities to hold their own commemorations on the anniversary of the October 7 attack.
This seems like the right thing to tamp down the emotional anguish currently bounding out of control.
Herzog has stepped up before. Just 18 months ago, the president stepped up to the plate and unveiled his “People’s Framework” proposal to replace the government’s plans to radically overhaul the judicial system, at a time when it seemed the country would tear itself apart.
The president of Israel is a figurehead that is almost, but not entirely, ceremonial. Real power lies with the prime minister. Yet, Herzog constantly finds himself as the voice of reason in a country that constantly seems to be at a turning point from which it may not recover.
Regev, however, disagrees. On Saturday, she claimed that Herzog had “picked a side” by issuing his proposal without first contacting her.
“State ceremonies aren’t held at the President’s Residence, this cannot be,” she told Channel 14. “This needs to be held in the South.”
“With the letter he issued, he picked a side,” Regev claimed. “It would have been possible to sit down and reach an understanding. I believe that the president’s intention was good, but as someone who knows me and talks to me, he could have come and talked to me and the prime minister before the letter.”
There are no ‘sides’ when trying to commemorate the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Ego over compromise
It seems that the minister has very little concept of what her words imply. Did the president offend Regev and her sense of importance when he didn’t come directly to her to speak? Regev has courted controversy for the past 10 years, and her record of stage-managing national ceremonies seems to be more troublesome than it’s worth. One only needs to look at the 2018 Independence Day ceremony and her treatment of Diaspora Jewry to see that. Her appointment to organize October’s event has certainly been contentious, and her rejection of Herzog’s proposal is just childish.
At a time when Israel is fighting a war on four fronts – from the North to Gaza, the West Bank, and the Iranian threat to Israel – Regev is choosing to fan the flames of the country’s internal strife instead of realizing what’s in the best interests of the citizens directly affected by the events of October 7.
The president, just as he did 18 months ago, is trying to affect a compromise to avoid adding to the anger, pain, and anguish that so many of Israel’s citizens are feeling, and those feelings will probably grow the closer we approach the one-year anniversary of October 7.
Compromise. A word that Regev and many of her colleagues apparently could do with learning.