Independence Day celebration in Bnei Brak to be low key
Bnei Brak municipality moves Independence Day event from public square to local school; critics accuse mayor of caving to radical anti-Zionist elements ahead of elections; city argues event is poorly attended.
The Bnei Brak municipality has decided to move its Independence Day ceremony this year from a square adjacent to city hall to a local state religious (non-Haredi) school.
Residents say they heard about the decision from school administrators who told them it was part of a trend to downplay state events, ensuring they were low-key and removed from the public sphere.
“For years, hundreds of children from kindergartens and schools have come to the municipality square for this important ceremony. The municipality used to decorate the place with Israeli flags, and construct a stage. It was a respectable event that became a tradition," Ya’akov Vider, the head of the Haredi faction in the Likud party, told Ynet.
"The ceremony also has symbolic significance, because it is important that it is held in a public place under the auspices of the municipality," said Vider. He explained that parents of children who study in municipal kindergartens and schools feel that the move is the result of political considerations ahead of the upcoming municipal elections.
"I intend to fight so that the ceremony will return to the municipal square. I am a Haredi, and I don't think it is justified to move it to a closed venue. This move is puzzling. I really hope the mayor did not make this decision because of pressure from extremist elements. The number of people at the ceremony is irrelevant," he said.
According to her, the move stems from "Mere petty politics. The (non-Haredi) religious and secular populations have indeed shrunk, but this should not prevent the city's children in public and state religious schools from participating in a ceremony at a public place. It is a civics lesson of the highest order, and it is unfortunate that the mayor wants to thwart it."
Harel Cohen, whose son also goes to a state religious school, was upset by the decision. “The municipality of Bnei Brak systematically excludes the Zionist and Zionist religious sectors, both secretly and openly. As a resident from childhood, I feel this in every aspect, as do my children. I am not surprised by this move, and it is very sad for me that the people of Israel are not particularly united at this time.”
Avraham Tenenbaum, the municipal secretary and spokesman, said the decision was the result of decreasing participation over the years. “Every year in the municipal square, there are fewer and fewer children attending from kindergartens and schools, so the place is almost empty and it turns into a shameful ceremony. We wanted to hold a more dignified ceremony than in the past, so it was decided to move it.”
Regarding the parents' claim that the move stems from political considerations before the elections, Tenenbaum said: "There are some politicos who want to make politics out of it, but the mayor has no such intentions.”
