Housing Minister Natan Sharansky: \"We have to fight an all-out war against terrorism, and stop this double game where a terrorist is our partner in talks.\"
Many Knesset Members, including some from the left-wing, said that though they may have disagreed with him politically, they had a deep friendship and admiration for Rehavam Ze\'evi. Channel Two correspondent Rina Matzliach reported, \"It is true that Acharei Mot Kedoshim Emor [the dead are often eulogized in glowing terms], but everyone walking around here in the Knesset can see that in this case all the words of praise are really and truly genuine.\"
MK Tzvi Hendel of the National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu party: \"This assassination was a declaration of war on the most unambiguous level. If an Israeli government minister can be murdered in the capital city, we must liquidate and disperse the entire Palestinian Authority.\"
Moshe Peled, who served in the Netanyahu government as Deputy Minister of Education for the nationalist Tzomet party, said, \"[Contrary to public perception,] Rehavam [was] not a hawk. He represents centrist Zionism at its best - everyone else simply moved to the left.\"
Before the death was announced, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw phoned his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres to express his nation\'s shock at the attempted assassination. Peres told him that if Arafat doesn\'t \"get matters under control, everything will go up in smoke.\" The Palestinian Authority officially reacted only four hours after the shooting, with a senior official saying that the PA is against all assassinations in general, from both sides, but \"we are surprised that Israel is blaming the PA, when actually Israel began with these liquidations.\" It was later reported in the name of \"Palestinian officials\" and UN envoy Terje Larsen that Arafat had ordered the arrest of the murderers. The PA\'s Yasser Abed Rabbo said, \"The Palestinian Authority condemns the murder of Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi, but calls on Israel to stop killing Palestinians.\"
MK Benny Elon told Arutz-7 today,
\"I would like to begin the same way Gandhi would always begin his weekly spot on Arutz-7: Shalom to the Jews. Ze\'evi had a great part in founding the security of the State of Israel... I think all the listeners understand that those making war against Am Yisrael scored a victory today, but we will return fire with all our strength, just as Gandhi taught and fought all his life. He was a soldier who fought and was killed as a martyr. He will be missed, but we will continue his fight. We must remember that he did not rest for a moment, not for a moment, and I hope that his death will cause the Prime Minister to realize that there is no choice but to bring down the PA...
\"This killing was not of an individual, but of a hero in Israel, a symbol of Israeli sovereignty, and a symbol of fear for our enemies. He was one of the few former army officers who remained a symbol of this strength... He believed that there will not be peace in this land until we make it clear to ourselves that this is our land and our home, and that *they* are the foreigners here [Ze\'evi was an advocate of the transfer of Arabs out of Israel]. If we reach an agreement that they go to Jordan, or some other [such] agreement, then good, but if they begin a war with us, then the war will end as did the 1948 war - and we all know that that war brought a great demographic and geographic change, and I feel that his legacy is now more alive and more relevant than ever before.\"
Education Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) said, \"People say that this is just another round of terrorism and political assassinations, etc. This is a big mistake. We must not confuse the victims with the terrorists. We have dealings here with people who have no concept of human dignity, human rights, and democracy. They are the terrorists, and we are the victims. The time has come for us to rely only on ourselves.\"
Deputy Minister Yuli Edelstein (Yisrael B\'Aliyah): I have no doubt that the Palestinians have crossed the red line, they have gone from threats to actions, and I hope that now the government will finally come to the right conclusions that were not reached after the Dolphinarium and Sbarro, and take very drastic moves against the Palestinian Authority...
President Moshe Katzav blamed Arafat for the assassination, and called it one of the gravest murders in the history of the State of Israel.
Minister Raanan Cohen (Labor): \"This situation is intolerable. We must take possibly very difficult decisions to respond to this terrorism - it\'s not just in Israel, it\'s all over the world, and it\'s too bad that the world woke up so late.\"
Meretz MK Avshalom Villan: \"He would always show interest in every settlement throughout Israel.\"
Culture and Sport Minister Matan Vilnai, a former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff: \"He was my commander for many years... We disagreed on political issues, but I had great respect for him, and he was also a good friend of my father [well-known Land of Israel expert Ze\'ev Vilnai]. There was a certain glue that kept us together, and this was not only our common army past, but also the love of Eretz Yisrael.\"
Many Knesset Members, including some from the left-wing, said that though they may have disagreed with him politically, they had a deep friendship and admiration for Rehavam Ze\'evi. Channel Two correspondent Rina Matzliach reported, \"It is true that Acharei Mot Kedoshim Emor [the dead are often eulogized in glowing terms], but everyone walking around here in the Knesset can see that in this case all the words of praise are really and truly genuine.\"
MK Tzvi Hendel of the National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu party: \"This assassination was a declaration of war on the most unambiguous level. If an Israeli government minister can be murdered in the capital city, we must liquidate and disperse the entire Palestinian Authority.\"
Moshe Peled, who served in the Netanyahu government as Deputy Minister of Education for the nationalist Tzomet party, said, \"[Contrary to public perception,] Rehavam [was] not a hawk. He represents centrist Zionism at its best - everyone else simply moved to the left.\"
Before the death was announced, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw phoned his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres to express his nation\'s shock at the attempted assassination. Peres told him that if Arafat doesn\'t \"get matters under control, everything will go up in smoke.\" The Palestinian Authority officially reacted only four hours after the shooting, with a senior official saying that the PA is against all assassinations in general, from both sides, but \"we are surprised that Israel is blaming the PA, when actually Israel began with these liquidations.\" It was later reported in the name of \"Palestinian officials\" and UN envoy Terje Larsen that Arafat had ordered the arrest of the murderers. The PA\'s Yasser Abed Rabbo said, \"The Palestinian Authority condemns the murder of Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi, but calls on Israel to stop killing Palestinians.\"
MK Benny Elon told Arutz-7 today,
\"I would like to begin the same way Gandhi would always begin his weekly spot on Arutz-7: Shalom to the Jews. Ze\'evi had a great part in founding the security of the State of Israel... I think all the listeners understand that those making war against Am Yisrael scored a victory today, but we will return fire with all our strength, just as Gandhi taught and fought all his life. He was a soldier who fought and was killed as a martyr. He will be missed, but we will continue his fight. We must remember that he did not rest for a moment, not for a moment, and I hope that his death will cause the Prime Minister to realize that there is no choice but to bring down the PA...
\"This killing was not of an individual, but of a hero in Israel, a symbol of Israeli sovereignty, and a symbol of fear for our enemies. He was one of the few former army officers who remained a symbol of this strength... He believed that there will not be peace in this land until we make it clear to ourselves that this is our land and our home, and that *they* are the foreigners here [Ze\'evi was an advocate of the transfer of Arabs out of Israel]. If we reach an agreement that they go to Jordan, or some other [such] agreement, then good, but if they begin a war with us, then the war will end as did the 1948 war - and we all know that that war brought a great demographic and geographic change, and I feel that his legacy is now more alive and more relevant than ever before.\"
Education Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) said, \"People say that this is just another round of terrorism and political assassinations, etc. This is a big mistake. We must not confuse the victims with the terrorists. We have dealings here with people who have no concept of human dignity, human rights, and democracy. They are the terrorists, and we are the victims. The time has come for us to rely only on ourselves.\"
Deputy Minister Yuli Edelstein (Yisrael B\'Aliyah): I have no doubt that the Palestinians have crossed the red line, they have gone from threats to actions, and I hope that now the government will finally come to the right conclusions that were not reached after the Dolphinarium and Sbarro, and take very drastic moves against the Palestinian Authority...
President Moshe Katzav blamed Arafat for the assassination, and called it one of the gravest murders in the history of the State of Israel.
Minister Raanan Cohen (Labor): \"This situation is intolerable. We must take possibly very difficult decisions to respond to this terrorism - it\'s not just in Israel, it\'s all over the world, and it\'s too bad that the world woke up so late.\"
Meretz MK Avshalom Villan: \"He would always show interest in every settlement throughout Israel.\"
Culture and Sport Minister Matan Vilnai, a former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff: \"He was my commander for many years... We disagreed on political issues, but I had great respect for him, and he was also a good friend of my father [well-known Land of Israel expert Ze\'ev Vilnai]. There was a certain glue that kept us together, and this was not only our common army past, but also the love of Eretz Yisrael.\"