Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv, whose name became synonymous with destroying Palestinian homes in Gaza, will light a torch at Israel’s national independence day ceremony - one of the country’s highest civilian honours.
The annual ceremony, held on 21 April, celebrates the establishment of Israel in 1948 (an event known to Palestinians as the Nakba - or catastrophe - which ethnically cleansed over 750,000 people).
Miri Regev, the populist right-wing transport minister, chose the rabbi as one of those to light a torch this year.
The ceremony is attended by key government and military figures, and includes a ritual where a handful of citizens considered to have made exemplary contributions to society light 12 torches.
Zarbiv is a rabbinical court judge in Ariel, an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
