From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Yesh Atid to give all its tickets to Independence Day ceremony to hostages’ families
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
In a letter to Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid states that his Yesh Atid party will donate all of its tickets to this year’s official Independence Day ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl to families of hostages —— and asks the cabinet minister to make sure that they encounter “no difficulties” when they arrive.
As in years past, Regev is organizing this year’s ceremony on behalf of the government and has invited released hostages Emily Damari and Eli Sharabi to light torches. The Times of Israel understands that no hostages’ families have been refused tickets by the government.
“In anticipation of the Independence Day events and the torch-lighting ceremony, the Yesh Atid faction has decided to pass on the 46 invitations we as Knesset members have received to the families of the kidnapped to the torch-lighting ceremony,” Lapid writes in a letter asking Regev “to ensure that no difficulties are placed on the families’ entry.”
“It is appropriate that those who are paying the unimaginable price of war every day should sit in the front rows,” he writes.
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