Knesset remembers former PM Yitzhak Rabin

Ya'alon: Day of assassination was "one of most horrible in history of the state"; Rivlin: We must have no tolerance for political violence.

By LAHAV HARKOV, JPOST.COM STAFF
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin 311 (photo credit: Courtesy: Knesset Channel)
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin 311
(photo credit: Courtesy: Knesset Channel)
The Knesset honored the memory of late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on Wednesday, with a special session in which Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, opposition leader Tzipi Livni (Kadima) and Labor chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich spoke.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was unable to attend the ceremony as planned, because his father-in-law, Shmuel Ben-Artzi, passed away on Wednesday afternoon. Ben-Artzi, 97, was an author and teacher, and in recent months, lived in the Prime Minister’s Residence, where his daughter, Sarah Netanyahu, took care of him.
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Speaking at the Knesset event in Netanyahu's place, Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon called the day of Rabin's assassination "one of the most horrible days in the state since its founding."
"Our nation is united in its strong desire for peace," he  said, specifying that peace meant maintaining a right to live on the land and protect the security of the Israeli people.
Ya'alon also addressed the phenomenon of so-called "price tag" attacks, in vandalism and violence is directed toward Arabs and Palestinians in response to demolitions of any settlement homes. "We must condemn again and again, and fully use law enforcement to stop the terror and fear mongering against people with other opinions."
The offices of left-wing pro-peace organization Peace Now and the home of one of its officers were vandalized several times in recent weeks, with references to the murder of Yitzhak Rabin made in the graffiti left on the scene.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin also spoke of "price tag" attacks in his speech to the special session. “The phenomenon known as ‘price tag’ is perhaps the clearest test of our ability to implement these lessons,” Rivlin said.
“First of all, this is not a ‘price’ or a ‘tag,’ this is terror,” he said. “These villainous criminals, who harmed houses of prayer, fields, homes and property belonging to Palestinians, are Jewish, and this is ‘Jewish terrorism,’ that should be called nothing else."
“Rabin’s assassination carries two messages on democracy: We must have zero tolerance for political violence, and at the same time, we must avoid demonization of political groups and minorities,” the Knesset speaker added.