Shimon Peres’s funeral relegated the IDF chief of staff and the Israel Police commissioner to a less prestigious position in a row behind the prime minister’s son; some former and current MKs took foreign dignitaries’ seats, getting rid of the name cards and refusing to give up the seats.
Behind the scenes of Shimon Peres’s funeral on Friday, struggles were waged and arms were twisted regarding the seating plan on Mount Herzl.
The VIP area was practically divided into three sections. The central section contained foreign leaders and a reduced group of Israeli leaders that included government ministers. Flanking this section on the left and the right were the remainder of the VIPs and those invited by the Peres Center for Peace and the Peres family.
The clear separation didn’t prevent a few MKs from sitting in the central section. At a certain point, the organizers were required to move them so that important guests from abroad could be seated. Some MKs refused, and small spats broke out. In the end, a few current and former MKs remained who refused to relocate. To do so, it should be clarified, they had to remove the “reserved” signs bearing the names of those persons for whom the seats were intended.
In addition to the unplanned seating problems was the issue of confusing priorities in order of precedence. Former IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. (res.) Avi Benayahu noted in a tweet during the ceremony that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son was seated in the third row of the central VIP section, ahead of the IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot. Also allotted less desirable seats than the reigning prime minister’s son (who is a private citizen) Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh, Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan.
The office of Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev was responsible for the seating arrangement, which seems to explain why the minister herself was given pride of place during the burial, seated in the front row and talking animatedly to Prince Charles with King Felipe VI on her other side.
Her office commented, “The seating plan was set with full coordination with the family, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and additional bodies according to the arrangement’s rationale. The gossipy business of the VIPs’ distance from the stage does not respect the former president and obscures the honorable ceremony that was handled well, despite its being one of the most complicated and sensitive funeral arrangements in Israel.”
Despite the ministry’s boast, when the farewell ceremony of the eulogies concluded, which included 5,000 persons, only 500 invited persons were supposed to continue to Peres’s grave for his internment. However, thousands wandered over to the plot, creating an embarrassing crowd that caused some foreign leaders to flee to the nearby VIP reception tent.
As reported by Ynetnews