Chairman Avi Gabbay of the Zionist Union has accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Culture Minister Miri Regev of disseminating rumors that the faction would boycott Wednesday's state ceremony in Gush Etzion saluting the 50th anniversary of the settlement enterprise beyond the 1949 Armistice Line.
Claiming on Facebook that no one had planned to boycott the ceremony, he said the faction would be represented although he had a schedule conflict. He noted a number of recent visits to and statements on behalf of a Jewish presence in the region. Gabbay wrote, "A government that is sowing hatred and incitement is trying to turn an event that is supposed to be a state[event] into a photo opportunity and trying to create controversy where there is no such thing. That's the way the government of Bibi and Miri looks." He concluded, "We will not cooperate with this discourse and we will continue to be practical and unifying. These are the facts. Everything else is lies and political games, and we are not playing this game."