Regev compares planned non-government Oct. 7 events to ‘Israeli-Palestinian ceremony on Memorial Day’

Transportation Minister Miri Regev compares memorial ceremonies that Gaza border communities ravaged by Hamas’s October 7 attack are planning to mark one year since the attack to alternative Israeli-Palestinian ceremonies held on Memorial Day every year.

While asserting at a press conference that she would go ahead with planning a state memorial service on the anniversary of the massacre despite a growing boycott among Gaza border communities and hostage families of the event, she says, “Of course, there is also an option for others to hold alternative ceremonies, such as the Israeli-Palestinian ceremony on Memorial Day.”

According to the Ynet news site, Regev denies making the comparison a short while later and refuses to apologize.

Referring to those denouncing the event as politicized and accusing the government of using the official ceremony to avoid responsibility for the disaster and its continuing aftermath, she says, ״I’m blocking out the noise, and I will continue to lead this ceremony as I did in previous ceremonies, with respect for those who are angry and criticizing.”

Kumu (“Rise Up”), an organization of border community residents that is planning the alternate ceremony, responds in a post on X, “The ‘background noise’ that Minister Regev spoke of is us. Bereaved families, residents of the Gaza border communities and the North, and the reservists who paid and are paying a heavy price for the events of October 7.”

“Minister Regev has illustrated her complete disconnect in the government’s decision to spend millions of shekels producing a manufactured ceremony, filmed and edited in advance, for herself.”