The politics of mutual grief
Bereaved Israelis and Palestinians held an annual memorial event for victims on both sides of their conflict after the High Court of Justice overruled an attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel to attend the ceremony, which is held on the same day that Israel honors its fallen soldiers.
Thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv on May 7 for the annual event commemorating the victims on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony is traditionally held the same day that Israel commemorates its fallen soldiers.
Right-wing activists demonstrated outside the joint ceremony, which has been held for the last 14 years by the Parents Circle Families Forum (PCFF) and Combatants for Peace. Hundreds of protesters turned out as occurred last year, after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman tried to block the commemoration by claiming that it “violated [Israel’s] Memorial Day.” That the ceremony’s organizers included bereaved parents who had lost loved ones was not worthy of consideration in Liberman’s eyes.
