Even though I appreciate the initiative to hold the Joint Memorial Ceremony for Israelis and Palestinians, I nevertheless have a problem with it. It has to do with its substance and its PR. The ceremony is cast in terms of symmetry and equality, as if there was no occupier and occupied, as if both sides are victims of circumstance. And also the hypocritical insistence of many of the participants that the Palestinians in attendance are not mourning terrorists who were killed by the Israel Defense Forces but rather their innocent loved ones, contrary to the claims of the slanderers from the extreme right.
That is, it’s fine for the Jewish fallen to be soldiers who were killed in Lebanon or in Shujaiyeh, but heaven forbid not Palestinians from the Lion’s Den militia, for example, or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. A good Palestinian is one who doesn’t resist the occupation. As Israelis would have it, they themselves can be victims even as soldiers, but Palestinians cannot. This is in fact a depoliticization of the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Only Israelis are allowed that.
I have an aversion to trends, such as the comeback of Peace Now, the word “occupation” and political demonstrations. The Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony was also back in vogue this year, attended by 15,000 people, according to the organizers. Most of them were Israeli Jews, of course. They sat next to bereaved Palestinian families from the West Bank who, after their request to enter Israel for the event was denied, were allowed in by order of the High Court of Justice.
Granted that the ceremony couldn’t be entirely considered a comeback, since it has never been particularly popular, but this was its year, especially thanks to the recent wave of protests in Israel. It also may have been thanks to its timing, right after the death of writer Yehonatan Geffen, who according to journalist Avishay Ben-Haim was the embodiment of Israeliness. Following Geffen’s passing, it became known that he had recorded a song for the joint memorial ceremony.
That greatly enhanced how many non-radical Israelis who embrace Zionism and the spirit of Israel’s Declaration of Independence viewed the ceremony. It’s as if they had received permission from this secular rabbi of theirs, resolving their dilemma. They could now attend the Israeli-Palestinian event and then a day later celebrate Israeli Independence Day.
More generally, many Israeli paradoxes have recently been resolved. You could join the Uniform Challenge Hebrew Facebook page and post a picture of yourself in uniform and then attend the Joint Memorial Ceremony for Israelis and Palestinians, followed by the Independence Day eve protest party on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.
You could thrill at the Israel Air Force flyover the following morning and then attend a Saturday evening demonstration holding signs reading “No democracy with occupation” and “No one is free until everyone is free.” You can oppose the occupation and the takeover of Palestinian land by settlers and live on a kibbutz built on what had been Palestinian land without thinking that talk of the takeover of land and its fair distribution relates to that land.
The answers to “What is Israeli in your eyes,” the question that Yair Lapid famously asked all guests on his talk show, must now include anything goes, all is fluid, including everything and its opposite: the struggle, faith and political views. What normal people find paradoxical is a way of life for Israelis. And if, for example, pro-democracy demonstrations prompt the decision-makers to declare “we’re brothers” and halt the judicial overhaul, what happens at next year’s joint memorial ceremony? Can we forecast a decline in Israeli attendance? Time will tell.
But in the meantime, the joint ceremony was held this week, and it’s important if only because the right, from the soft right to the extreme right, loathes it. Sometimes that’s enough of a reason to support something.
Something Bothers Me About the Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony
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30.04.2023
Even though I appreciate the initiative to hold the Joint Memorial Ceremony for Israelis and Palestinians, I nevertheless have a problem with it. It has to do with its substance and its PR. The ceremony is cast in terms of symmetry and equality, as if there was no occupier and occupied, as if both sides are victims of circumstance. And also the hypocritical insistence of many of the participants that the Palestinians in attendance are not mourning terrorists who were killed by the Israel Defense Forces but rather their innocent loved ones, contrary to the claims of the slanderers from the extreme right.
That is, it’s fine for the Jewish fallen to be soldiers who were killed in Lebanon or in Shujaiyeh, but heaven forbid not Palestinians from the Lion’s Den militia, for example, or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. A good Palestinian is one who doesn’t resist the occupation. As Israelis would have it, they themselves can be victims even as soldiers, but Palestinians cannot. This is........
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