Bereaved group head slams Ben Gvir for causing ‘a rift among bereaved families’

The head of a memorial organization for fallen Israeli soldiers slams far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for not heeding calls to skip the Memorial Day ceremony in Beersheba.

Ben Gvir was met with opposition from some of the bereaved parents and scuffles broke out after the ceremony.

“I apologize to the fallen for not being able to safeguard your honor,” says  Eli Ben Shem, chairman of Yad Labanim, who has repeatedly warned that there could be chaos and even violence at official Memorial Day commemorations, given deep societal divisions over the government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system, with Ben Gvir a particularly divisive figure.

“Ben Gvir did not act with wisdom. He caused people to come to blows and a rift between bereaved families,” Ben Shem says, himself a bereaved father, adding that Ben Gvir should have just laid a wreath like other some other ministers and not insisted on speaking.

“Never before have we seen bereaved families raise their hands against each other. We asked him over the last two weeks not to come, but he insisted. He needs to search his soul on Yom Kippur over managing to create a rift between bereaved families,” says Ben Shem.