NOVANEWS
Haaretz
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon is expected to announce Sunday that non-Jewish soldiers will be buried in the same sections as Jewish soldiers in military cemeteries – but in different rows.
The decision follows an incident on Memorial Day when the IDF chief of staff chose not to place a flag at the grave of a fallen soldier whose Judaism was in doubt.
As a result of Sunday’s announcement, MK Elazar Stern (Hatnuah) is expected to shelve a bill under which soldiers whose Judaism is in doubt would be buried alongside their Jewish comrades.
On Memorial Day, instead of placing a flag at the grave of the most recent soldier buried at Mount Herzl, Yevgeny Tolochko, Chief of Staff Benny Gantz placed it at the grave of the most recent Jewish soldier.
Stung by criticism, the Israel Defense Forces and Defense Ministry changed the procedure so that the chief of staff places a flag at the grave of the last soldier buried, not simply the last soldier buried in the main section.
In recent weeks, Stern and Ya’alon sought a compromise on the issue. Stern submitted a draft bill signed by 26 coalition and opposition MKs under which fallen soldiers who immigrated under the Law of Return would be buried alongside Jewish soldiers, regardless of their Judaism.
The proposal stirred controversy in the governing coalition when the deputy minister of religious affairs, Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, opposed the proposal while Habayit Hayehudi colleague Shuli Moalem supported it.
In any case, defense sources noted that Sunday’s change was modest. “In most military cemeteries they already bury non-Jewish soldiers in the same sections as Jewish soldiers, but in different rows,” one said.
