Officials have stated that the presence of the symbol in the cemetery is disrespectful to the families of Jewish soldiers interred nearby.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has threatened to exhume the remains of a fallen Christian soldier unless his family agrees to remove a cross from his gravestone, according to the soldier’s family members who spoke with local media. David Bogdanovsky, who had emigrated from Ukraine to Israel in 2014, was killed by an anti-tank rocket in Gaza last December.
Bogdanovsky’s family reported on Monday that they received a letter from the Defense Ministry demanding the removal of the cross or the relocation of the staff sergeant’s remains to a location outside of the Haifa military cemetery.
”By law, it is not permitted to place a cross or any other religious marker on a military headstone,” the ministry stated. The letter purportedly cited a ruling by the IDF’s chief rabbi, who asserted that the sanctity of the Jewish cemetery is violated by the presence of a cross.
Military officials reportedly also claimed they had received complaints from “families whose loved ones are buried nearby [and] who claim that the cross hurts their feelings and their ability to pray.”
Bogdanovsky’s mother told Ynet that when she visited her son’s grave earlier this month, she found his gravestone covered in black cloth.
“I don’t have words to describe the humiliation I felt,” the woman told reporters.
”I thought that my David, who gave his life to the country, who loved the country with all his heart… is no different than any of the other guys, [and] is not a second-class citizen. I stood there and cried with anger, frustration, and disbelief,” she said.
In a post on Facebook, the soldier’s mother explained that her late son’s faith was an “integral part” of his identity. She also expressed surprise that her son was being singled out, noting that other graves in the cemetery have crosses.
While graveyards in Israel are typically segregated based on religion, a special law allows non-Jewish service members to be interred alongside their Jewish comrades in military cemeteries.
In late 2023, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics estimated that Christians made up 1.9% of the population.
Israel launched its military operation in Gaza after Hamas militants staged a deadly incursion into Israeli territory in October 2023, killing around 1,100 people and taking more than 200 hostages. According to the health authorities in the Palestinian enclave, a year of heavy Israeli aerial bombardment and a ground offensive have left nearly 42,000 people dead in Gaza.