Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein has threatened not to attend a torch lighting ceremony on Israel’s 70th Independence Day if an initiative by Culture Minister Miri Regev is introduced that would see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin deliver a speech.

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Edelstein distributed a letter Thursday to all 120 Knesset members, which was obtained by Ynet, in which he explained why an adoption of Regev’s proposal would result in his absence.

“There is no doubt in my mind that if its national character is erased, the fire will come out of the torches and stoke the disagreements between us. We cannot lend a hand to this,” he wrote.

If Edelstein refuses to attend the ceremony, all other members of the Knesset will also be absent.

Minister Regev and Yuli Edelstein (Photo: Marc Israel Sellem and Gil Yohanan)

“Over the last two days, Regev’s proposal has been raised again to implement fundamental changes to the traditional torch lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl. If it is indeed implemented, for the first time since the creation of the state, damage will be caused to the most important state event on the calendar, which many consider to be as holy as the temple," Edelstein explained.

"If the Knesset is not the sole representative for the nation of Israel, as it is every year in the ceremony, the Knesset and its members will not be able to take part.”

Justifying his decision further, Edelstein said that he had made the decision in order to avoid sparking more disputes in Israel.

“As someone who has been working in this house for a long time now, I feel it is my responsibility to explain to you my decision,” he wrote. "It is well known that I won’t be doing it for my own self-respect … but for the respect of the Knesset so as not to increase disputes in Israel.

“Intentionally, there has never been a torch-lighting ceremony in the territory of one tribe or another in Israeli society. It is loved, precisely because it reveals what is sometimes concealed in the heat of everyday life— that our society is one human tissue, whose huge achievements stem from the spirit of cohesion blowing in it.”

It was for this reason, Edelstein went on, that the Knesset, “in which there are representatives for all men and women in israel, in which all strata of Israeli society are represented in all their diversity, is the traditional leader of the special ceremony—in unity, respect and statliness.”

Responding to Edelstein, Minister Regev said that his threat was unacceptable and that next week she is expecting to meet with Netanyahu when she will suggest to him personally that he speak at the event.

Regev claims that according to the suggestion by the Knesset Symbols and Ceremonies Committee, it would only be right to let Netanyahu speak at the event once every ten years.

Yair Lapid backs Edlestein's letter (Photo: EPA)

“Washing words that fail to remove the stain of Edelstein’s strange opposition to a speech by the president and the prime minister at the 70th birthday ceremony,” Regev said.

“What fundamental change is Edelstein complaining about in his letter? A speech by the prime minister will damage the stateliness? Every year the prime minister’s wishes are aired at the ceremony in a video. It seems that what bother the Knesset speaker is Netanyahu’s physical presence at the ceremony, not his speech,” she asserted.

“I have heard from many citizens over the last few days, and none of them have managed to understand the opposition, this behavior and this word washing by Edelstein, which posits that with the arrival of the state president and the prime minister, harm will be caused to the statliness and unity of the ceremony.”

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, however, threw his weight fully behind Edelstein.

“The Netanyahu that I know would not have harmed the state ceremony for political gain or a televised speech. It’s not his stage, it’s the stage of the nation of Israel,” he said.