Comments (0)Rabin Memorials Held Throughout Israel
November 2, 2009Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
Israel is marking the 14th anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Even as memorial services were held Thursday, the Hebrew date of the murder, at schools and institutions throughout the country, some right-wing activists called on students and citizens to shun the commemorations.
Memory tents were erected in sites across Israel and included an exhibit on the right-wing incitement against Rabin in the weeks leading up to his assassination, Ha’aretz reported.
The memorials began Wednesday evening, with a memorial ceremony held at the Israeli President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
“Fourteen years ago the banner that was waving in the square read ‘Yes to peace, no to violence.’ The years have passed and the Israeli society is still dealing with serious violence,” the slain prime minister’s daughter, Dalia Rabin, said at Wednesday evening’s ceremony.
The annual state memorial was held Thursday afternoon at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem and is being followed by a special Knesset session to remember the slain prime minister. Right-wing lawmaker Michael Ben-Ari of the National Union Party said Wednesday he would boycott the Knesset session.
Right-wing activists in Jerusalem handed out fliers calling on students to boycott the ceremonies. The fliers condemn the assassination, but decry “the memory and immortalization of Rabin’s legacy,” Ha’aretz reported.
Israeli President Shimon Peres said of Rabin at Thursday’s state memorial, “Yitzhak was required to deal with two situations: Consolidating the nation with war and leading it, with divided opinions, onto a path of peace. In both situations, Yitzhak directed his gaze at the truth. He didn’t seek fake honor. He didn’t hide facts. He didn’t deceive and he didn’t collapse.”
Meanwhile, President Obama sent a videotaped message to Israel to be aired Saturday night at the annual main memorial ceremony for Rabin in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square. The message, requested by Dalia Rabin, will remind Israelis of the need to continue the peace process in memory of her slain father, Ha’aretz reported.
Study: Holocaust Survivors at Higher Risk for Cancer
Jewish Holocaust survivors are at a higher risk for cancer, a study found.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Haifa and published online Monday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, compared the cancer rates of more than 300,000 European-born Jews who immigrated to Israel before or during World War II and those who immigrated after World War II until 1989.
Both groups have higher rates of cancer than other Jewish and non-Jewish groups in Israel.
Exposure to the Holocaust was found to increase, by at least 17 percent, the risk of contracting all kinds of cancers in both sexes—the strongest risks were for breast, lung and colorectal cancer. The younger a person was exposed to the Holocaust, the higher the risk of cancer, the study found.
Dr. Lital Keinan-Boker of Haifa University’s School of Public Health, Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences led the research team.
Hamas to Boycott Palestinian Elections
Hamas will not allow the Palestinian Authority to prepare for elections in the Gaza Strip.
The group on Wednesday also ordered Gaza residents not to take part in the election, saying it would punish Palestinians who participate in the election or arrange them.
Hamas and other radical Palestinian factions have said they will boycott the poll, which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared for Jan. 24.
A Hamas spokesman on Wednesday declared the P.A. Central Elections Committee an “illegal body.” Abbas’ term expired earlier this year and he has threatened not to run for re-election given the moribund state of the peace process with Israel.
The Hamas government in Gaza said it would continue to oppose the elections until it reached reconciliation with Abbas’ Fatah Party.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.