Joint Memorial Ceremony
Joint Memorial CeremonyEphrat Beloosesky

MK Tzvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism party) has introduced a bill which would allow the Finance Minister to reduce the budget of the body which holds the annual joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony on Israel's Memorial Day.

Each year, the left-wing organizations Combatants for Peace and The Parents Circle-Families Forum organize a 'Joint Memorial Day Ceremony. This ceremony is controversial in Israel and draws protests by the families of Israelis who were killed in terrorist attacks.

Amendment 40 to Basic Law: The Budget of 1985 , authorizes the Finance Minister to order a reduction of the budget or support of an organization due to activity against the principles of the state.

The explanatory note of the bill states: "The above authority will also apply to cases in which Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Hostile Acts is observed together with the dead of the entity which fought against Israel."

"The commemoration of Memorial Day of those killed by an entity fighting against Israel is a desecration of the holy day, causes harm the bereaved families, and causes real damage to the symbols of the state and its values," reads the explanatory not. "Therefore, entities that are financially supported by the state budget should not be allowed to finance activities or to sponsor activities that create a sense of desecration of their memory by grouping them together with the dead from a state or entity which fought against Israel."

Approximately NIS 150,000 have been raised for this year's Joint Memorial Day Ceremony, which will be held in HaYarkon Park in Tel Aviv.

B'Tzalmo chairman Shai Glick said: "The alternative Memorial Day ceremonies cause very serious harm to the IDF's martyrs, the bereaved families and the people of Israel. These events cannot be allowed to take place in places and with public funding from the Israeli taxpayer. That extreme leftist organization is invited to rent a private hall using its own money and the money of the European Union. I congratulate my friend MK Tzvi Sukot for this bill and I am sure that it will be passed soon and such dramas will no longer happen in Israel."