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Ha'aretz & Jerusalem Post Articles on Rabin Memorial in Tel Aviv

Rabin_Rally1_2011_186x140.jpgHa'aretz: "Peace Now activist Ofran: 'We must not fear. We are here, and we are many'"

Jerusalem Post: "16 years on: Annual Tel Aviv rally remembers Rabin"


Prominent speakers included Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project: "The graffiti was sprayed in my home, but the taunts are in all of our stairwells. The tag may have marked me, but we all pay the price. We must not fear. We are here, and we are many.



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Ha'aretz: "Peace Now activist Ofran: 'We must not fear. We are here, and we are many'"

Thousands attended annual memorial rally at Tel Aviv's Rabin Square to mark the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 4, 1995.

By Ilan Lior

Around 10,000 people attended the annual memorial rally held Saturday night in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, marking the assassination on November 4, 1995, of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

This year the event was organized and funded by a new nonprofit organization, the Fourth of November 1995, rather than the Association for the Establishment of the Yitzhak Rabin Center, as in previous years. Rabin's daughter, Dalia, who is chairwoman of the center, recently said the annual memorial in its current format has run its course and was prohibitively expensive. Nevertheless a number of family members, including Dalia's brother, Yuval, took part in last night's rally.

Prominent speakers included Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project, whose home was recently defaced with graffiti threats identified with the right-wing extremist "price tag" campaign. The campaign is in response to perceived actions against the settlements and illegal outposts in the West Bank.

"The graffiti was sprayed in my home, but the taunts are in all of our stairwells. The tag may have marked me, but we all pay the price. We must not fear. We are here, and we are many. We have a voice and we must raise it. And today we say to Benjamin Netanyahu: We are not afraid," Ofran said, adding that she was sure the majority of settlers oppose what was done at her home. "Decent people on the right must mark the limits of political debate and fight the rampant political violence," Ofran said.

Yossi Sarid, who was environment minister in the Rabin government, also referred to political violence in Israeli society: "Is the next murderer already waiting near the steps?" he asked. He warned against the growing number of people who denied Rabin's murder and actively sought to erase its memory "because the memory reminds them of their sins, reminds us of those who walked behind his coffin while he was alive" − in a reference to one of the actions staged by his detractors.

"The murder was never fully investigated, and those who marked the target − rabbis and politicians − walk free. For them it was a perfect and profitable crime, that encourages additional hate crimes," Sarid added.

Other speakers included Rabbi Menachem Froman, of the West Bank settlement of Tekoa; author Sahara Blau and attorney Eldad Yaniv, a founder of the National Left movement.

The comedian and actor Shaike Levi emceed the event and sang "Hare'ut," the song most associated with Rabin. Among the many musical performers were Aviv Geffen, Danny Sanderson, Miri Aloni and Marina Maximilian Blumin.


http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/peace-now-activist-ofran-we-must-not-fear-we-are-here-and-we-are-many-1.395227

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Jerusalem Post: "16 years on: Annual Tel Aviv rally remembers Rabin"

By BEN HARTMAN
11/12/2011 20:31

Rampant 'price tag' operations show we haven't learned the lessons from the assassination, says activist.

Sixteen years after three shots from an assassin's gun took the life of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, some 10,000 people came to Rabin Square in central Tel Aviv to commemorate his life, and to issue calls for nonviolence and renewed efforts for peace with neighboring countries and the Palestinians.

Peace Now General Director Yariv Oppenheimer said ahead of Saturday evening's rally that the annual event would be more political than in previous years, and would focus largely on "price tag" operations - acts of violence by right-wing settlers targeting Palestinians and Israeli security personnel - and government legislation he said was being pushed forward to weaken the media, left-wing and opposition voices, and the Supreme Court.

"There is a feeling that an attempt is under way to silence people through violent actions on the streets and through legislation in the Knesset. This is what should bring the public to the square tonight."

The emphasis on "pricetag" attacks was evident at the rally, where there was a large number of placards that read "price tag" above three bullet holes surrounded by blood. There were also signs decrying Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira's book Torat Hamelech, which says that in certain circumstances it is permitted to kill gentile children if they would later pose a threat to Jews.
Hagit Ofran, head of Peace Now's Settlement Watch, addressed the rally, less than a week after the words "price tag" and "Rabin is waiting for you" were spray-painted on the stairwell of her apartment in Jerusalem.

Like every year, a memorial tent was set up at the square to display photographs from Rabin's life, as well as newspaper headlines and footage from right- and left-wing rallies in the days leading up to the murder.

Tom Weisel, an activist from Dror Israel (the young adult division and community organizing arm of the Hano'ar Ha'oved Vehalomed youth movement), which set up the tent, said that part of its purpose was to highlight what he called the incitement that preceded Rabin's death, in order for the public to learn from what happened.

"We haven't learned the lessons from Rabin's murder. The same public is still threatening Israel's democracy, still making threats against politicians," Weisel said. "The real manifestations of this we see today are 'pricetag' incidents and the 'Torat Hamelech' book, which is an incitement to murder against gentiles."

Speaking from the stage, former Meretz Party chairman Yossi Sarid pointed an accusatory finger at forces in the country working on what he described as a path of incitement to violence and degradation of Israel's democracy. He also appeared to make a thinly veiled accusation at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who famously stood on a balcony over a rally at Zion Square in Jerusalem in 1994, as protesters held signs depicting Rabin in an SS uniform and called Rabin a "traitor" and "murderer."

"Rabin has been forgotten. There are those who doubt the facts of his killing because it reminds them of their past. It reminds us of how they walked ahead of a coffin bearing his name, reminds us of how they stood on the balcony, and these people have never repented for their sins. And we are still waiting for their apology.

"Those who made him into a target, those rabbis and politicians are still walking free today. For them, it was the perfect crime," Sarid said.

Saturday's rally, which was delayed by a week due to inclement weather, appeared smaller than those held in recent years. Unlike in the past, no incumbent MKs or members of the Rabin family spoke. Last year's rally, during which President Shimon Peres spoke, drew some 100,000 people.

Saturday's event was organized by the "November 4th" group instead of the Yitzhak Rabin Center as in previous years. Earlier this week, Rabin's daughter former deputy defense minister Dalia Rabin said the time had come to find alternative ways to commemorate Rabin's life and legacy.

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=245332