Some 200,000 people viewed the joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony commemorating the victims of the conflict. The April 27 event, which usually attracts thousands of participants, was held this year online over the novel coronavirus threat, livestreaming simultaneously in Hebrew and in Arabic from studios in Tel Aviv and Ramallah.

The Israeli-Palestinian memorial ceremony was conceived 15 years ago. A bereaved Israeli parent whose son died fighting in Lebanon sought in 2006 to establish an alternative ceremony to the one traditionally organized by the state and the army at the plaza of the Western Wall. Two civil society groups took up the mission: The Parents Circle, a forum of bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families seeking reconciliation between the two peoples, and Combatants for Peace, an organization of former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants.

The ceremony has become synonym with these two groups, generating controversy each year within Israeli society. It takes place on the eve of Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, and not all bereaved families accept the alternative event. Some categorically reject the idea of combining grief for Israeli soldiers with that of Palestinian families over their sons. Other object to the ceremony being conducted on the specific date. Quite a few politicians on the political right have rejected it over the years, and on several occasions, Palestinians were not allowed to enter Israel from the West Bank in order to take part. Some of these politicians have even called the event "Memorial Day for terrorists."

Last year, the High Court overturned a decision by the Defense Ministry — then headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to deny the entry of 176 Palestinians who were supposed to participate in the event. After the ruling, about 9,000 Israelis and dozens of Palestinians arrived at the Tel Aviv commemoration to mark Memorial Day together.