Edelstein to boycott torch-lighting ceremony if Netanyahu attends

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, in a letter to Knesset members and parliamentary workers, threatens he could boycott the annual torch-lighting ceremony on Israel’s 70th Independence Day should Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insist on attending.

Edelstein (Likud) 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 the plan by Israel’s premier to attend the ceremony on Mount Herzl.

In the letter, Edelstein says 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 writes.