The late Tourism Minister Rehavam (Gandhi) Ze’evi was remembered in an official state ceremony today at Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery marking the first anniversary of his murder by Palestinian terrorists. PLFP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terrorists gunned Ze'evi down at the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem as he returned to his room after an early breakfast to be interviewed on Arutz-7's morning program.
Speakers at today's ceremony included Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Ze'evi's eldest son Palmach. President Moshe Katzav, ministers, MKs, and other public figures also took part. Sharon said, "Gandhi was a son of the Land of Israel... He manifest in his life and in his death the essence of our struggle for the Land."
Palmach Ze'evi said about his father that there was no "prouder Jew than him." He traced his father's path from the Palmach [pre-State military force], to the IDF, to the head of the Central Command where he closed off the eastern border to terrorist infiltrations practically hermetically, then to head of Prime Minister Rabin's anti-terrorism task force, then to the Land of Israel museum, and finally to the founding of a new movement called Moledet - now a political party in the Knesset. Palmach chided the media for either scorning his father or ignoring him, and said that they could choose any one of the many columns he wrote or speeches he gave in the past ten years and see that all his predictions had unfortunately come true. Palmach then added,
"But beyond all, he was a proud Jew. He would tell us [his children], 'Palmach, Binyamin [now a Breslover Hassid], Massada, Tse'elah, Aravah: For the Zionist enterprise to grow here, it's not enough just to go to the army and to build a family. You have to connect with [Jewish] tradition, you need to understand your Jewish roots.' Later, I understood that our leaders who set out to bring peace agreements for the People of Israel - great men whose love for Israel is not in doubt - if only they would have held a Bible under their hands and remembered how our forefathers walked on this land thousands of years ago, and if they would have remembered - forgive me for mentioning it! [said sarcastically - ed. note] - the Covenant we forged with the G-d of the Jews to inherit this Land - then certainly they would have stood much straighter during the negotiations."
Speakers at today's ceremony included Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Ze'evi's eldest son Palmach. President Moshe Katzav, ministers, MKs, and other public figures also took part. Sharon said, "Gandhi was a son of the Land of Israel... He manifest in his life and in his death the essence of our struggle for the Land."
Palmach Ze'evi said about his father that there was no "prouder Jew than him." He traced his father's path from the Palmach [pre-State military force], to the IDF, to the head of the Central Command where he closed off the eastern border to terrorist infiltrations practically hermetically, then to head of Prime Minister Rabin's anti-terrorism task force, then to the Land of Israel museum, and finally to the founding of a new movement called Moledet - now a political party in the Knesset. Palmach chided the media for either scorning his father or ignoring him, and said that they could choose any one of the many columns he wrote or speeches he gave in the past ten years and see that all his predictions had unfortunately come true. Palmach then added,
"But beyond all, he was a proud Jew. He would tell us [his children], 'Palmach, Binyamin [now a Breslover Hassid], Massada, Tse'elah, Aravah: For the Zionist enterprise to grow here, it's not enough just to go to the army and to build a family. You have to connect with [Jewish] tradition, you need to understand your Jewish roots.' Later, I understood that our leaders who set out to bring peace agreements for the People of Israel - great men whose love for Israel is not in doubt - if only they would have held a Bible under their hands and remembered how our forefathers walked on this land thousands of years ago, and if they would have remembered - forgive me for mentioning it! [said sarcastically - ed. note] - the Covenant we forged with the G-d of the Jews to inherit this Land - then certainly they would have stood much straighter during the negotiations."