MK Eliezer Cheetah Cohen, a member of the Yisrael Beiteinu party that joined with Ze\'evi\'s National Union party some months ago, told Arutz-7 today, \"The reason why Ze\'evi is considered extremist is very simple: He said the truth, and people don\'t like to hear the truth.\"
The National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu party decided three days ago to resign from the government because of its policy of restraint regarding PA-sponsored terrorism - but this decision was changed yesterday, following the assassination. Although the new decision is valid only for the seven-day mourning period, MK Cohen implied that the government\'s future moves would be such that would enable the party to remain in the coalition: \"Israel of today is no longer the same. You will see this two days from now, and two weeks from now, and two months from now… Gandhi achieved much with his death; even the Americans announced that they were stopping...\" [ed. note - a reference to a major foreign policy speech that was to have been delivered by US Secretary of State Colin Powell].
Avshalom Kor, noted linguist and the MC of the official ceremony at the Knesset today, related that Gandhi\'s father Shlomo Volkovitch changed his name to Ze\'evi 80 years ago because of his love for the Hebrew language. He later named his son Rehavam, and Kor explained that this was because of his great love for the Kingdom of Israel: \"I am named after King Shlomo,\" Gandhi\'s father said, \"whose son Rehavam was King of Israel after him. I will name my son Rehavam as well.\"
Both Kor and Ze\'evi\'s grandson Suf noted that in the famous photograph of the helmeted Generals Yitzchak Rabin, Moshe Dayan, and Uzi Narkis walking through the streets of the newly-liberated Old City of Jerusalem during the Six Day War, a fourth figure can be seen in the background - that of Rehavam Ze\'evi. They said that he turned his head precisely as the photo was taken, \"typical of his modesty and of the responsibility he felt to check, even then, that no danger was about to prop up behind them.\"
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, head of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva network of yeshivot, called upon all hesder and yeshiva high school students to attend the funeral this afternoon. Women in Green Co-Chairperson Nadia Matar, speaking on her weekly Arutz-7 radio program this morning, noted that among the many books that Gandhi edited was one that he actually wrote and compiled on the Hevron Massacre of 1929. Noam Arnon, spokesman for the Hevron Jewish Community, wrote an article last night entitled, \"Gandhi and Hevron: A Love Story.\" He wrote, \"Gandhi visited Hevron numerous times, as an officer, as a private citizen, as a Knesset member and as a minister. He knew the city intimately, knew its history and its populace. Sometimes his voluminous knowledge of the historical details of Hebron surprised us...\"
Rabbi Uri Zohar, well known as an actor and comedian in the 1960\'s and 70\'s who became an observant Jew, told Arutz-7:
\"I knew him for over 40 years, when I was a young soldier and he was a young officer. We became real friends, not just in words; he was a true friend. One time I was in military prison, all alone and upset, and the only friend who came to visit was Gandhi - I will never forget that. This was typical of him. Upright, consistent, gentle-souled…\" Zohar said that one day when Gandhi, as a Member of Knesset, was going though a particularly difficult period - \"he was being castigated all over for standing up for what he believed in, and so I said to him, why don\'t you just try to come closer to G-d. He asked how he should do that, and I suggested that he put on tefillin. So Rabbi Avraham Ravitz and I helped him put on tefillin, and I explained that they corresponded to the head and to the heart, etc., and from then on, he put on tefillin every day...\"
A long-time friend of Rehavam Ze\'evi related that Gandhi\'s father taught him to act every day according to the Hebrew word Adashah, an acronym for Anavah (humility), dveikut (devotion), simchah (joy), and hitlahavut (fervor). Ze\'evi said that accordingly, he consciously tried to do at least \"one positive act every day, such as giving a ride to passersby.\" National Religious Party MK Sha\'ul Yahalom in fact told Arutz-7 yesterday that only a couple of days before the assassination, \"my wife was walking on the street, when suddenly Ze\'evi drove up behind her and said, \'Can I give you a lift?\'\"
The National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu party decided three days ago to resign from the government because of its policy of restraint regarding PA-sponsored terrorism - but this decision was changed yesterday, following the assassination. Although the new decision is valid only for the seven-day mourning period, MK Cohen implied that the government\'s future moves would be such that would enable the party to remain in the coalition: \"Israel of today is no longer the same. You will see this two days from now, and two weeks from now, and two months from now… Gandhi achieved much with his death; even the Americans announced that they were stopping...\" [ed. note - a reference to a major foreign policy speech that was to have been delivered by US Secretary of State Colin Powell].
Avshalom Kor, noted linguist and the MC of the official ceremony at the Knesset today, related that Gandhi\'s father Shlomo Volkovitch changed his name to Ze\'evi 80 years ago because of his love for the Hebrew language. He later named his son Rehavam, and Kor explained that this was because of his great love for the Kingdom of Israel: \"I am named after King Shlomo,\" Gandhi\'s father said, \"whose son Rehavam was King of Israel after him. I will name my son Rehavam as well.\"
Both Kor and Ze\'evi\'s grandson Suf noted that in the famous photograph of the helmeted Generals Yitzchak Rabin, Moshe Dayan, and Uzi Narkis walking through the streets of the newly-liberated Old City of Jerusalem during the Six Day War, a fourth figure can be seen in the background - that of Rehavam Ze\'evi. They said that he turned his head precisely as the photo was taken, \"typical of his modesty and of the responsibility he felt to check, even then, that no danger was about to prop up behind them.\"
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, head of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva network of yeshivot, called upon all hesder and yeshiva high school students to attend the funeral this afternoon. Women in Green Co-Chairperson Nadia Matar, speaking on her weekly Arutz-7 radio program this morning, noted that among the many books that Gandhi edited was one that he actually wrote and compiled on the Hevron Massacre of 1929. Noam Arnon, spokesman for the Hevron Jewish Community, wrote an article last night entitled, \"Gandhi and Hevron: A Love Story.\" He wrote, \"Gandhi visited Hevron numerous times, as an officer, as a private citizen, as a Knesset member and as a minister. He knew the city intimately, knew its history and its populace. Sometimes his voluminous knowledge of the historical details of Hebron surprised us...\"
Rabbi Uri Zohar, well known as an actor and comedian in the 1960\'s and 70\'s who became an observant Jew, told Arutz-7:
\"I knew him for over 40 years, when I was a young soldier and he was a young officer. We became real friends, not just in words; he was a true friend. One time I was in military prison, all alone and upset, and the only friend who came to visit was Gandhi - I will never forget that. This was typical of him. Upright, consistent, gentle-souled…\" Zohar said that one day when Gandhi, as a Member of Knesset, was going though a particularly difficult period - \"he was being castigated all over for standing up for what he believed in, and so I said to him, why don\'t you just try to come closer to G-d. He asked how he should do that, and I suggested that he put on tefillin. So Rabbi Avraham Ravitz and I helped him put on tefillin, and I explained that they corresponded to the head and to the heart, etc., and from then on, he put on tefillin every day...\"
A long-time friend of Rehavam Ze\'evi related that Gandhi\'s father taught him to act every day according to the Hebrew word Adashah, an acronym for Anavah (humility), dveikut (devotion), simchah (joy), and hitlahavut (fervor). Ze\'evi said that accordingly, he consciously tried to do at least \"one positive act every day, such as giving a ride to passersby.\" National Religious Party MK Sha\'ul Yahalom in fact told Arutz-7 yesterday that only a couple of days before the assassination, \"my wife was walking on the street, when suddenly Ze\'evi drove up behind her and said, \'Can I give you a lift?\'\"