Herzog proposes he oversee, host state Oct 7 memorial ceremony amid backlash over government’s plan

President Isaac Herzog has offered to hold the October 7 state memorial ceremony at the President’s Residence, following backlash in recent days over the government’s plan for the event, which is expected to be overseen by Transportation Minister Miri Regev.

In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Herzog suggests that the event be held under the president’s purview “in the interest of dampening the flames of controversy and preventing unnecessary quarrels and disputes between different parts of society.”

A ceremony at the President’s Residence would be “respectful, unifying, stately and modest, and of course without political trappings,” Herzog writes. “The ceremony will include state symbols, as is customary, including lowering the flag to half-mast and saying Kaddish [the Jewish mourners’ prayer].”

He stresses that a ceremony held in this manner would not replace the right for “every community, group, settlement, kibbutz, town and city to commemorate the anniversary as they wish,” after several kibbutzim hit hardest by the October 7 onslaught said they would be boycotting the state memorial in favor of holding private events.

“I would ask that this proposal be examined by you with the seriousness it deserves,” Herzog writes, asking Netanyahu to bring it forward for a discussion in the appropriate ministerial committee.

“Israelis are looking toward their representatives and expect that the coming days of remembrance will be a source of comfort, healing, unity, growth, faith, rebuilding and hope; and not, god forbid, days of division, polarization and factionalism.”

Several Gaza border communities have accused the government of using the official ceremony to avoid responsibility for the role it played in failing to prevent Hamas terror assault, and for failing the communities in the aftermath of the massacre.