Speaker Yuli Edelstein rejected his colleague’s request to publicly display a Christmas tree, but said he could have one in his office or in his party’s conference room, the Associated Press reported.

A spokesman for Edelstein said on Monday that keeping a tree in Parliament until Orthodox Christmas ends on January 7 would be too long.

This isn’t the first ban on Christmas trees in Israel.

The mayor of an Israeli town bordering Nazareth has refused to allow town-sponsored Christmas trees in the past, despite the fact that the town has some Christian residents.

BA/BA