Remembrance Day events to be held without audiences
Ceremonies in 52 military cemeteries to be canceled
Remembrance Day ceremonies will be held without audiences and many smaller ceremonies will be canceled due to the continued coronavirus crisis, the Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday morning.
“In order to preserve the health of the public on the one hand and to uphold national traditions, the defense minister instructed the Defense Ministry and the IDF’s Manpower Directorate that the main ceremonies at the Western Wall plaza (on Remembrance Day eve) and Mount Herzl (Remembrance Day) will be held without an audience and instead to be broadcast live,” read a statement released by the ministry.
In addition, local ceremonies in the 52 military cemeteries across the country will be canceled in their usual form. In their place, soldiers will hold a candlelight vigil as well as a salute by a commander and military cantor saying the kaddish.
The decision was taken following the recommendation of ministry director-general Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam; head of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate Maj.Gen. Moti Almoz; and Aryeh Moalem, deputy director and head of the ministry’s Families and Commemoration Department, who consulted with the chairpersons of Yad Labanim and the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization.
Moalem told reporters that several smaller ceremonies would also be canceled, including the commemoration ceremony at Yad Labanim in Jerusalem on the eve of Remembrance Day, as well as Remembrance Day ceremonies at several sites across the country.
The ceremonies which will be held with no audience include the official state ceremony at the Western Wall attended by President Reuven Rivlin and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, and the annual ”Songs in Their Memory” ceremony held at the Knesset, which will be broadcast live.
On Remembrance Day, the placing of wreaths and candles on graves will take place in accordance with the guidelines set by the Health Ministry. The visits of bereaved families who live abroad have been canceled, upon recommendation of the ministry, Moalem said.
While many of the ceremonies have been canceled, the minute-long nationwide siren at 8 p.m. – which honors the fallen and marks the start of Remembrance Day events – as well at the two-minute siren at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Day will take place as planned.
Over a million and a half Israelis attend Remembrance Day eve and Remembrance Day ceremonies.