No Chirstmas trees in Knesset
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MK's request denied: No Christmas trees in Knesset
Knesset speaker denies Arab-Christian MK's request to set up Christmas tree in Israel's legislative for allegedly technical reason, but permits him to deck the halls of his own Knesset office
The office of the speaker of the Knesset sad he has rejected a Christian lawmaker's request to publicly display a Christmas tree in the building.
Eran Sidis, a spokesman for Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud), said Monday that the speaker rejected the request, but said the parliamentarian could display a Christmas tree in his office and his party's conference room.
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Sidis denied the rejection was connected to Israel's Jewish character. He said displaying the tree until Orthodox Christmas January 7 would be too long.
Hanna Swaid, an Arab-Christian member of Knesset from Hadash - Israel's communist party - Arab minority, said a Christmas tree would promote multiculturalism and freedom of religion.
There have been previous bans on public Christmas tree displays. The mayor of a Jewish town bordering Nazareth has previously refused them, though some Christians live there.
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