President Isaac Herzog apologized on Friday for the October 29, 1956 Kafr Qasem massacre of Arab citizens by Israeli border police officers.
His remarks were made at a ceremony commemorating the 49 Palestinian victims on Friday.
“I bow my head before the memory of the 49 victims. I bow my head before you, their families, and before the inhabitants of Kafr Qasem throughout the ages,” Herzog said. “On behalf of myself and the State of Israel, I ask for forgiveness,” he said in Arabic.
“It is clear to all of us the killing and injury of innocents are absolutely forbidden. They must remain beyond all political disputes,” he stressed.
“This is our opportunity, as a society, to say no to prejudice. This is our opportunity, as a humane society, to empower what we have in common as citizens and neighbors,” Herzog said on Friday, adding that it is a chance to uproot discrimination and hatred.”
Herzog is the second Israeli president to address the event. His predecessor Reuven Rivlin attended in 2014 and condemned the massacre. In 2007, then-president Shimon Peres broke ground when he formally expressed regret over the massacre, but did not attend the memorial.
Several Israeli ministers had expressed their regret over this incident. Former Minister of Education Yossi Sarid had previously offered his public apology and instructed officials to include this incident in school education in the 90s.
The Minister of Tourism at the time, Moshe Katsav, who later became president, said that “the families of the victims deserve from us to ask for forgiveness.”
However, the parliament, by a majority of 93 deputies, rejected a bill to make October 29 an official day of mourning, in which victims are commemorated and lessons are taught to students.
On October 29, 1956, the first day of the Suez Crisis, a curfew was placed on Arab villages near the Green Line, which served as the effective border with Jordan, due to fears of unrest. Border police officers were ordered to shoot and kill whoever violates the curfew.
However, many locals had not heard of the curfew, and later that evening, the police shot and killed men, women and children who were on the streets.
