Bennett floats compromise in Likud’s Independence Day ceremony spat

Addressing an escalating feud between two senior Likud lawmakers, Education Minister Naftali Bennett proposed Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be allowed to address the Israel Prize ceremony, which he heads, instead of the annual torch-lighting ceremony marking the start of Independence Day.

The compromise offer was sent in a letter to Netanyahu hours after Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein wrote his own letter to parliamentarians and staff in which he called on them to boycott the torch-lighting ceremony should the prime minister insist on attending.

Edelstein has been unhappy with Netanyahu’s expected decision to participate, which breaks with a tradition according to which the Knesset speaker is the most senior official at the event.

He has been locked in an argument with Culture Minister Miri Regev over Netanyahu’s plan to attend the ceremony on Mount Herzl.

In the letter, Edelstein stated that the ceremony is meant to be strictly apolitical.

“In the event the Knesset is not the sole representative of Israel [at the event], as it is every year, unfortunately, the Knesset will not take part,” he wrote.

At a conference organized by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Sunday, Edelstein said that “someone” had given the prime minister bad advice and convinced him to attend the ceremony. The remark was widely understood as a reference to Regev, a staunch ally of Netanyahu, who fired back two days later.

“It is very regrettable that the Knesset speaker is turning the national ceremony into a personal, petty squabble,” Regev said. “Mount Herzl isn’t his private estate, and with all due respect it is not a personal ceremony and personal issues should be removed from public discourse. The Knesset guard is also not Edelstein’s private royal guard.”

In Bennett’s letter Thursday to Netanyahu, the education minister suggested that a one-time exception be made to the protocol of the Israel Prize ceremony whereby the prime minister would be the keynote speaker at the event.

Typically, the prime minister is in attendance when the country’s most prestigious awards are handed out, but does not speak in an effort to preserve the stately status of the event.

Bennett’s proposal would see him address the ceremony as traditionally done, but only after Netanyahu.

“I call upon you to accept this proposal out of a desire to allow the celebrations to take place in the spirit of unity and statehood, so that we… will not cloud the holiday atmosphere,” the education minister wrote.

On Thursday evening, Hadashot TV news reported that Edelstein had told confidants that Netanyahu’s presence at the ceremony was not what bothered him, but rather that of the culture minister.

“There is no limit to her desire to pit lawmakers against each other,” Edelstein was quoted as having said about Regev.

“I have no problem with the prime minister. We straightened things out two weeks ago. But she just cannot understand that the ceremony is not some side gig,” he added.

The lighting of 12 torches by people who are seen to have made an outstanding contribution to society is a highlight of the annual ceremony, held at nightfall on the eve of Independence Day, alongside parades, dancing, music, and fireworks.

Netanyahu’s participation is seen as part of a drive to revamp the ceremony, held at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, to give it an added boost on Israel’s 70th birthday. The prime minister last year sent personal letters to heads of state around the world inviting them to the event. Previous ceremonies were generally attended by foreign envoys or military attaches.