Tel Aviv – Israel’s government ministers were in hot water on Tuesday after not a single one had showed up for funeral ceremonies for the four soldiers killed in a terrorist attack in East Jerusalem.
“You send the boys to war, you send the boys to serve in the army.
“For God’s sake, don’t you have a free hour to come and share the mourning family’s pain,’ David Einhorn, whose son was killed in the 2006 Lebanon War said.
Three women and one man, all in their 20s, were buried across Israel on Monday, a day after a Palestinian driver steered a truck into a group of soldiers on a cultural tour who had just got off a bus.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had said on Monday night that he heard of the absence “with great sorrow”.
That a regulation would be drafted to require ministers or their deputies to attend the funerals of Israeli soldiers killed in action or acts of terrorism.
The Director of Yad Labanim, a group commemorating fallen soldiers, said that the government for years had promised to enact measures ensuring ministers attend such funerals, the Ynet news portal reported.
Defence Minister, Avigdor Lieberman’s office said he did not want to attract press to the funerals and would visit the families during shiva, the Jewish mourning ceremony.
Housing Minister, Yoav Galant, apologised and said that he would work with the other ministers “to make things right”.
Others cited travel, religious reasons and illness for why they didn’t attend.
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