Marking Mimouna, PM hails lull in violence over Passover

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and dozens of Israeli lawmakers on Saturday night attended Mimouna parties, a North African Jewish tradition held each year to celebrate the end of Passover.

Speaking from a Likud event in Yavne, Netanyahu praised the security forces for working over the Passover holiday and keeping Israel safe.

“We had a quiet, kosher, happy Passover,” said Netanyahu. “Quiet — thanks to our soldiers, policemen and policewomen, the women and men of the Shin Bet [security agency] who protect us — and also thanks to to the determined, forceful policy of our government, the Likud government.”

Rivlin and opposition leader Isaac Herzog, meanwhile, urged national unity.

“May the feeling of unity and solidarity that the various communities in our nation feel during this holiday accompany us every day, even in the most difficult hours of divisiveness,” said the president.

“Mimouna is the answer to the evil spirit that stems from racism and violence in our midst,” added Herzog at an event in Beit Shemesh.

Knesset members shared photos on Facebook in Moroccan garb, eating the traditional honey-covered pancakes called mufletot and other sweets.

Channel 10 also captured a somewhat stilted Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon dancing at an event, hand-in-hand with Culture Minister Miri Regev.

Israeli politicians traditionally attend Mimouna feasts each year. Though the tradition is unique to North African Jewry, the Mimouna has largely become an Israeli holiday, with those without North African roots visiting friends’ houses to take part in the celebration.