Amid protest, Goldknopf to stay away from Memorial Day ceremony

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf says he will not attend a Memorial Day ceremony at Kiryat Gat’s military cemetery as scheduled, after an outcry from bereaved families in the city who oppose the presence of a representative from the ultra-Orthodox community.

Despite vowing to attend yesterday, Goldknopf now says that he will stay away and will instead go to the Western Wall to recite psalms for fallen soldiers.

In a letter addressed to the Haredi politician, the families wrote: “We, several bereaved families from Kiryat Gat, ask you in every way possible not to attend the Memorial Day ceremony for IDF fallen soldiers in Kiryat Gat.”

They added, “We believe that someone representing groups in Israeli society who refuse to bear the burden of military service cannot stand before bereaved parents and speak on a day that is so sacred to us.”

Goldknopf, who chairs the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, has strongly opposed conscripting Haredi men into the IDF amid heightened tensions over the issue, in part due to the ongoing Gaza offensive.

The families wrote that they preferred that Goldknopf invest his time in “recruiting yeshiva students” rather than speaking to bereaved families at the cemetery.