The rift between Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev over her decision to break with tradition and invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin to speak at the annual torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl on the eve of Independence Day continues to deepen.
For the last 69 years, in an effort to keep the ceremony apolitical, the speaker of the Knesset has been the only government official to speak.
The Knesset Guard on Sunday continued rehearsing for the event, even though Edelstein announced last week that if Regev changed the program and invited the prime minister to address the crowd, no representative of the Knesset would participate in the ceremony.
Last week, Edelstein wrote to all MKs and Knesset employees and said that "If the Knesset is not the sole representative of the people of Israel, as it is every year, the Knesset and its staff will regretfully not be able to take part in it."
Col. (ret.) David Rokni, who directed and commanded the ceremony for 34 years, said Sunday that there was no need to change the guidelines for the event.
On Sunday, Regev held a press conference to share details about the ceremony and repeated her comments about Edelstein.
"I'm disappointed by the conduct of the Knesset speaker, whose remarks and behavior are harmful to the official status of the Knesset and the government. And I want to present the facts: The torch-lighting ceremony has always been a government ceremony. It was never the 'property' of the Knesset. It's the government of Israel that runs the ceremony via the [Culture Ministry] and the chair of the Ministerial Committee for Ceremonies and Symbols, which is me.
"I am the only one who needs to approve the plans for the torch-lighting ceremony. No one else has a say. The Knesset is not a partner in the torch-lighting ceremony. The government decided to honor the Knesset speaker by allowing him to speak, but that doesn't make it his. The government can make the decision that in addition to the Knesset speaker, the president and the prime minister will also appear."
Regev went on to say, "I don't understand whom it bothers that on the 70th anniversary of the state, the president, the prime minister, and the Knesset speaker will appear. … Could there be anything more official than the president, the prime minister and the Knesset speaker standing on the same stage? Why are [people] inciting against the prime minister and saying he is not 'representative'?"
Senior Knesset officials have expressed displeasure with Regev's comments. "There has never been a culture minister who expressed such a stance and there was always full cooperation and coordination between the Knesset … and the Culture Ministry."
Edelstein refused to respond to Regev's comment that she, not the Knesset speaker, was responsible for the Independence Day event. Edelstein's office issued a statement that his position "remained unchanged."
