Tuesday, February 16, 2010

It’s the same, isn’t it?

The Ministerial Legislative Committee decided this week on a bill which would make funding for commemorating Rahavam Ze'evi equal to what is spent on the commemoration of Yitzchak Rabin.

Rabin and Ze'evi - both military men, involved for much of their lives in Israel's wars and politics, and both ending from an assassin’s bullet. So far the comparison goes.

Yitchak Rabin, as Prime Minister, tried to achieve peace with the Palestinians, went further than any other Israeli leader before or after, and continued even when unpopular steps were needed. He was assassinated by an extreme rightist who sought to destroy all that Rabin tried to build (and to a considerable degree succeeded).

Rahavam Ze'evi, as minister of Tourism, worked for the "Transfer" of millions of people from their homes and land and making Greater Israel Araberrein. This inhumane stance built for him a rather successful political career – until the day he was killed by one of those he had planned to expel.

Vive la petite difference.