Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son, Yair, blasted the European Union on Tuesday for supporting a joint Israeli-Arab Memorial Day event. The event was hosted by extreme leftists who equate the loss of Israeli soldiers with that of Muslim terrorists.
Last week, the Twitter account of the EU’s mission in Israel wrote: “Yesterday we joined members of the Parents’ Circle @ThePCFF, in the joint virtual [Israeli-Palestinian] memorial ceremony sharing their grief and breaking the cycle of violence and hatred. Those who have lost loved ones in the conflict know best the necessity of peace and the path to reaching it.”
Yesterday we joined members of the Parents’ Circle @ThePCFF, in the joint virtual memorial ceremony sharing their grief and breaking the cycle of violence and hatred. Those who have lost loved ones in the conflict know best the necessity of peace and the path to reaching it pic.twitter.com/XStmAV9B6F
— EU in Israel (@EUinIsrael) April 28, 2020
“Shame on you for financing a disgrace in the holiest day of the Israeli calendar! We have one day in a year to remember our fallen soldiers! And you destroy it with a ‘memorial’ to Palestinian terrorists!” Netanyahu tweeted in response to a post by the EU’s mission in Israel.
“EU is an enemy of Israel, and an enemy to all European Christian countries! Schengen zone is dead and soon your evil globalist organization will be too, and Europe will return to be free, democratic and Christian!” he wrote.
Shame on you for financing a disgrace in the holiest day of the Israeli calendar! We have one day in a year to remember our fallen soldiers! And you destroy it with a ״memorial״ to Palestinian terrorists! EU is an enemy of Israel, and an enemy to all European Christian >>>
— Yair Netanyahu (@YairNetanyahu) April 28, 2020
>>> countries! Schengen zone is dead and soon your evil globalist organization will be too, and Europe will return to be free, democratic and Christian!
— Yair Netanyahu (@YairNetanyahu) April 28, 2020
The EU’s Israel mission told TOI that it didn’t financially support the contentious ceremony.
The event, which since its inception in 2006 has taken place in Tel Aviv, was hosted online this year due to Health Ministry regulations against gatherings. Combatants for Peace, the event’s organizers claim that it was viewed by close 200,000 people. The event was live-streamed from Tel Aviv and Ramallah.
The ceremony has caused a major controversy among the Israeli public, as detractors accuse it of legitimizing terrorism and equating Israel’s fallen soldiers to those who kill them.
Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the event and halted permits for dozens of Arabs from Judea and Samaria who were scheduled to attend, citing security issues. The High Court of Justice overturned the decision.
