Over 100,000 show up for Rabin ceremony

Jerusalem Post ^ | Oct. 31, 2003 | JPOST.COM STAFF

[yonif]

Over 1,500 police, Border Police and civil guard volunteers are providing security for the estimated 100,00 people attending the Saturday evening memorial ceremony for the eight anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Roads surrounding the central square in Tel Aviv named for the slain premier are being closed off to vehicles, with Police manning the entrances to the area. Police originally estimated that about 60,000 people would attend the ceremony ,and were surprised by the numbers who turned out.

At just after 10pm, the thousands attending the ceremony observed a minute of silence in honour of the slain former Prime Minister, who was gunned down after a peace rally at the Tel-Aviv landmark Nov. 4, 1995, by Yigal Amir, an extremist Israeli opposed to Rabin's diplomatic efforts.

Early Friday morning, the Rabin Memorial in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square was defaced by spray-painted swastikas.

The fountain at Dizengoff Square fountain was also sprayed with the "Kahane was right" slogan -a reference to Rabbi Meir Kahane, the late leader of the extreme right-wing Kach movement. It was the 9th such case of extremist graffiti in Tel Aviv since early Friday, Israel Radio reported.

"Everything should be done to find those responsible for the act of vandalism, and to uproot such phenomena," said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adding "I am outraged by this hateful act."

The vandalism came one day before the scheduled ceremony to commemorate the eighth anniversary of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's murder. The monument has already been vandalized just before memorials for Rabin were due to take place, and police had placed a guard in the area to prevent a recurrence.

Workers used high-pressured water sprays to clean white paint from the black memorial stones and plaque in the plaza.

Other desecrations appeared in Bnei Brak, Herzliya and along the Tel-Aviv Jerusalem highway.

The words "Kahane was right" were found painted on the memorial, referring to the extreme-right Kach movement.

Right-wing activist Itamar Ben Gvir denied involvement, saying that his movement abhors the use of Nazi-related slogans in reference to Jews.

All traffic to Rabin Square has been diverted as the crowds arrived for the ceremony. Top Israeli entertainers such as Aviv Geffen and Shlomo Gronich shared the stage with political figures such as Shimon Peres - and Chen Arad, brother of missing airman Ron Arad.

President Katzav expressed his dismay at the vandalism of Rabin's memorial and called upon all Israelis to participate in commemorative events.

Rabin's daughter, former MK Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, called for an end to violence and incitement in Israeli society, and urged the government to address the burning issues.

Peace Now activist Yariv Oppenheimer placed blame for the memorial's desecration squarely on the shoulders of the attorney-general, the state attorney's office and the police, who "fell asleep while on guard and haven't taken sufficient measures against the Kach movement," which should be banned, he said.

Rabin murderer Yigal Amir's mother, Geula, said that the commemoration event was no more than a foreign custom, and that "if anyone wants to remember someone, they don't need public gatherings to do so."

At the ceremony Saturday night, Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres blamed the extreme right for once again promoting incitement and irresponsibile declarations.

Peres said at the ceremony that Rabin had led Israel on a "long and correct path." Yitzhak was right. His way was right. The inciters against him were wrong. His murderers - criminals." Peres vowed to continue on Rabin's path. "Even on the right, they are starting to understand that it is better to have two nations who can hope to live in peace, rather than one nation in a constant struggle with it's neighbors," Peres said, using the memorial event as a platform to sharply criticize the Sharon government.

Touting the slogan he used at a Knesset speech two weeks ago, Peres declared: "There is someone to talk to, there is something to talk about," referring to the Palestinian Authority under Abu Ala (Ahmed Qurei).

Former Mossad and National Security Council chief Ephraim Halevy, speaking at the ceremony, spoke of his close personal ties with Rabin. "He was a unique symbol of leadership on the Israeli scene for many years. It was not his murder that claimed his place in Israel's history. His vision was all encompassing and he worked on many fronts simultaneously. His door was always open to ideas and assessments, " Halevy said.

Matthew Gutman contributed to this report.

[yonif]

I was living in Israel when this happened. I was young, however, I remember waking up in the morning after and turning on the news on the radio, and heard someone discussing an assasination. Then I went downstairs and saw the newspapers which were all black in mourning. I remember the headline "Rabin Murdered. Israel is hurting and crying." It was then later on that video of the assasination was shown on tv.

[yonif]

Ping.

[jonatron]

OK, so you can't say "Kahane was right," but the next headline posted by Yoni:

"PA won't dismantle terror groups - Fatah official"

Seems to demonstrate that Peres is Wrong!

[yonif]

Some of what Kahane said, some say, came out to be true.

[upchuck]

Over 100,000 show up for Rabin ceremony

Is this what you call a rich target? I'll bet the Hamas boyz are drooling all over themselves.

[xm177e2]

I too felt very bad about the assassination when I heard of it. But as I have learned more about Israeli history, my heart has grown cold to the suffering of terrorist-enablers who unlock doors for suicide bombers. The man who shot Rabin was a member of the Israeli special forces; to him, the Rabin assassination was just another routine "targeted killing" of a terror master. I see it in much the same terms. It did not have a positive short-term effect for right-wingers in Israel (it putt the rat Peres in power), but that only served to completely discredit Oslo, because leftists had control of the Israeli government the entire time the Oslo peace process was failing. Appeasers cannot be trusted to run governments in times of peril.

[xm177e2]

Oops. I feel stupid.

[fire_eye]

The most interesting thing I read about the assassin's motives was the quotation from Maimonides, who said that any Jew who gave away land belonging to Israel should be killed.

Maimonides is one of the treasures of the Talmud, is he not? Has orthodox Judaism rejected this teaching? Can they point fingers at Islam for not rejecting the similarly inflammatory teachings of Mohammed's paladins? (Not that there's anywhere near as much bloodthirstiness in Judaism as there is in Islam, needless to say... but still...)

[FreeReporting]

So I understand that you agree in principle with murdering prime ministers of Israel?

Shande!!