Police bar mourners from Mt. Herzl military cemetery

Group tries to pay its annual respects at graves of lone soldiers, including Holocaust survivors, but is forced to grieve in parking lot

Police barred a group of mourners from entering Jerusalem’s Mt. Herzl military cemetery on Friday in order to pay respect to lone soldiers killed in action whose families do not reside in Israel.

Police officers explained that since an official ceremony rehearsal for Memorial Day ceremonies was taking place at the time, only immediate family members of fallen soldiers were allowed into the cemetery.

Israel observes Memorial Day for servicemen and women and terror victims on Sunday night.

Even though the group has paid respects to fallen lone soldiers in recent years, its members were unable to persuade police officers to let them into the cemetery. Many of the graves at which the group pays its respects are those of Holocaust survivors who died in the 1948 War of Independence.

Instead, the group conducted a memorial service and recited the traditional mourner’s prayer in the parking lot outside the gates of the cemetery.

“We tried to explain that we came for soldiers who do not have any family to attend their grave,” Avi Ablov, who was among those denied entry to Mt. Herzl, said in an interview on Israel Radio. “The narrow minded attitude here is clear.”