Edelstein in Hevron
Edelstein in HevronItzik Harari, Knesset Spokespeople

The national memorial service for the 133 Jews murdered in the 1929 riots was held at noon Wednesday in the Hevron Cemetery, attended by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, ministers, Knesset members and heads of the Jewish community in Hevron.

Edelstein, as Minister of Information and Diaspora, stated ten years ago that every decade a state ceremony will be held in Hevron, and this is the second time the ceremony is taking place.

"We will apply Israeli sovereignty in Hevron, make it a great city in Israel," the Speaker of the Knesset promised in his speech. "90 years after 1929, we have to say clearly: It's time for Hevron, it's time for sovereignty in Hevron, it's time for the Jewish community in Hevron to grow. It's time for a visit to the Cave of the Patriarchs to be the easiest, most comfortable, most natural thing.

"It's time for Hevron to be a great city in Israel - as it deserves, as those murdered in 1929 deserve, as we deserve. Holding a state ceremony in Hevron - is a step toward sovereignty."

Edelstein will affix a mezuzah in the “Machpela House” recently filled by Jewish families. "Redemption of homes in Hevron is another important step. But more needs to be done. With determination, independence, connection that comes from our eternal covenant at this place. Everything has to be done so that the next state ceremony, commemorating the centenary of the 1929 riots, will take place on the sovereign territory of the State of Israel - because it is time. ''