In its sitting on Wednesday, the knesset Plenum marked the Memorial Day for the late former minister and Member of knesset Rehavam Ze’evi.
Speaker of the Knesset MK Amir Ohana (Likud) said, “Rehavam Ze’evi was not only a man of the past, he was a person and a leader who looked ahead to the future. He sought to learn from history. He believed that there was a covenant between the Jewish people and Eretz Israel, and that the integrity of the nation depended on the integrity of the land, as did the integrity of the state. For this reason, it is no accident that the Knesset was the place in which he chose to act, and from which he embarked upon the political journey from which he did not return.
“The Knesset, with all its differences of opinion and its noises, is still the place where the State of Israel’s great debate is waged. It is still the House in which opinions can be exchanged in a heated debate, but with responsibility, respect and a sense of partnership. As Minister Ze’evi demonstrated in his lifetime, it is possible to disagree profoundly but still to be committed to the same state, to the same nation and to the same hope.
“The differences of opinion in this House are a blessing, and they require us to remember that we are all part of the same chain. When we fight here, our enemies listen. When the Knesset loses its strength, society as a whole is weakened. Therefore, our obligation—particularly in times of polarization and pain—is to restore this House to its former glory. To remember that the Knesset is the People’s House and it is the branch of government that receives the public’s confidence in order to shape the image of the State of Israel.
“Rehavam Ze’evi was murdered by an Arab terrorist because he represented with dignity a sovereign Jewish state in Eretz Israel. Until his last moments, he never stopped, even for a moment, fighting for what he believed in, and doing so within the tools of a democratic state, within this House. That is his legacy, that is his path, and that is the challenge he left for us.
“We are at the start of a new period that demands of us assertiveness and wisdom. Power, as ‘Gandhi’ [Rehavam Ze’evi] said, is the only way to prevent war, but power does not only stem from weapons but from who we are, from our values, from our unity and from our willingness to view even those who do not think like us as part of the House,” said speaker mk Ohana.
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