Main Memorial Day ceremonies to be held without audience, smaller ones canceled

Israel’s Memorial Day national ceremonies will take place without audiences and the smaller events planned for municipal cemeteries will be canceled outright in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Defense Ministry says.

“In an effort to preserve the health of the public on the one hand and to uphold national traditions, the defense minister ordered the Defense Ministry and the IDF Manpower Directorate to hold the central ceremonies at the Western Wall (on Memorial Day eve) and at Mount Herzl (on Memorial Day) as planned but without an audience, and that they will be livestreamed,” the ministry says.

The smaller ceremonies that were scheduled to take place in military cemeteries across the country will be canceled “and in their place IDF soldiers will hold a candlelight vigil and say the Kaddish (prayer),” the ministry says.