Actress Hana Laszlo backs out of lighting torch at Independence Day ceremony

Israeli actress Hana Laszlo announced Monday that she would decline the role of torchlighter at Israel’s 78th annual Independence Day state ceremony amid controversy over her signing an artists’ petition last August calling to end the war in Gaza.

Some bereaved families interpreted her support for the petition, which was titled “Stop the Horror in Gaza,” as asserting that IDF soldiers had committed war crimes. Laszlo and other signatories to the petition expressed dismay at feeling “complicit in the horrific actions carried out by our government in Gaza.”

In a message to the torchlighting committee on Monday cited by Hebrew media outlets, Laszlo explained that she could not participate in the ceremony due to both her work obligations and the objections of some bereaved parents.

“I cannot light the torch,” she wrote. “Technically, I am not able to since I am committed to my role in the ‘Funny Girl’ musical, and mentally, as bereaved parents are writing to me [to turn the role down], and it’s very difficult for me.”

At this point, Laszlo will not be replaced in the ceremony, the torch committee wrote in a statement carried by Hebrew media, since the selection panel “has completed its work. This year, 14 torchbearers will carry torches at the ceremony.”

Last week, Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced that she had picked Laszlo to light a torch at the ceremony as “one of the most beloved and unique voices in Israeli culture.”

At the time, Laszlo took to her Instagram account to thank Israel for choosing her, writing, “I love with all my heart this country that was my parents’ lifelong dream, [who were] survivors of Auschwitz and rose from the abyss and built a home here.”

Laszlo, 72, is a veteran actress known for her numerous roles in television, film, and theater over five decades, including “Shtisel” and “Free Zone,” for which she won the Best Actress Award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, starring alongside Natalie Portman.

A handful of other torchbearers chosen this year have also been seen as controversial or political picks, including Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv, 54, a state rabbinical judge who called to “flatten Gaza,” drive out Palestinians and establish settlements there, as well as government point-man-for-hostages Gal Hirsch, whose selection was called by some former captives and family members “a slap in the face.”

Other torchlighters this year include film producer Moshe Edery, an Israel Prize laureate and close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s family, celebrity chef Assaf Granit, and Argentine President Javier Milei, whom Regev said she chose to light a torch because of his strong support for Israel.

Last month, Sara Netanyahu turned down a nomination by Likud MK Sasson Guetta to also light a torch at the ceremony. The Prime Minister’s Office said at the time that Sara “emphasizes that lighting the torch on Independence Day should be dedicated to the wonderful citizens of Israel, who stand bravely on the front lines and on the home front and continue in mutual responsibility through indescribable acts of kindness” in wartime.

This year, amid a shaky ceasefire with Iran and ongoing rocket attacks by Hezbollah, large-scale Independence Day events will be postponed and replaced with smaller community ceremonies, as some wartime guidelines remain in place.