Kibbutz Nir Oz on Wednesday joined the ranks of communities near the Gaza border that refuse to take part in the state memorial ceremony for the massacre on October 7, which will be pre-recorded and held without an audience. "We refuse to cooperate with a political ceremony that will be conducted by the government," said the kibbutz, 29 of whose members are still held hostage in Gaza.
The kibbutz added in a statement that "while we are burying our dead who were murdered in the captivity of Hamas, it is not surprising that the Israeli government and its leader, who until today have avoided visiting Nir Oz, the kibbutz that was completely abandoned, hasn’t asked kibbutz members to participate in the ceremony. The setting for the ceremony is a reminder of the greatest failure that ever occurred in the State of Israel."
"Those who led to a complete breakdown in trust will not be able to obscure it through ceremonies and use us as extras. Instead of planning ceremonies, the government should visit for the first time the place where a quarter of the community's population was murdered or kidnapped, to promote a hostage deal, to look into the eyes of a community that only yesterday was informed once again of how great the cost of the neglect it is dealing with. It's been over 10 months. Time doesn't play in favor of the abductors, mainly deal with what can and must be fixed."
Kibbutz Yad Mordechai announced that "we make it clear that we, like our neighbors, will not take part in the October 7 memorial ceremony in our current political format", and noted that a memorial rally will be held on Simchat Torah eve - on October 24 - "in the spirit of the values of Zionism and solidarity." The kibbutz added in a statement: "All surrounding kibbutzim and the families of the fallen are invited to participate."
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Memorial Day ceremony for families of the hostages at the Caesarea Ampitheater
(Photo: Nahum Segal)
On Wednesday morning the members of Kibbutz Kfar Aza also announced that they will not participate in the state memorial ceremony, and will hold a private ceremony.
They noted that 109 hostages, including five members of the Kfar Aza community, are still held in Hamas captivity. "The government along with all Israelis should concentrate all its efforts, day and night, to save the lives of the hostages and make due with lowering the flag to half-mast and observing a moment of silence, rather than holding grandiose events," Kfar Aza said in a statement.
"We mourn our dead, pray for our captives and the rest of the hostages and are working to rebuild our community. We will mark October 7 among our members, in the hope that we will be able to embrace members when they are freed from captivity."
Kibbutz Be'eri members announced their opposition to the state ceremony on Tuesday, shortly after they were informed of the recovery of the bodies of the six hostages.
"We deal with the loss of our friends and family members every day, and a ceremony in their memory will be held privately," they announced in Be'eri. "We demand that the government invest all its energy in promoting a deal for the return of the hostages and stop their lawlessness - don't allow more lives of our friends to be lost, we have lost enough."
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Miri Regev with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife at the Jerusalem Day ceremony
(Photo: Rafi Katz)
Nahal Oz kibbutz also announced that it would hold its own kibbutz ceremony. "We have been working on the issue for a long time," said the kibbutz in a statement. "It turns out that there will be two events, one of which will be an intimate ceremony. It is still in the planning stages." The ceremony will be held in three locations where the community memebrs are currently living - in Netivot, Bat Yam and Mishmar HaEmek. Before that, on October 5, the community will gather at Beit Yitzhak. "We'll just be together, with each other."
In response, the government's office for ceremonies said on Wednesday that there has been no final decision on where the event would take place.