If anyone were to have asked ask Minister of Tourism Rehavam Zeevi how he would like to end his life, he would not have said that he wanted to die old, sick, or in bed.
If pressed, he might have said he wanted to be killed by a bullet, after fighting, and after winning. Zeevi was killed by an assassin's bullet, while he was far from his own gun, and did not manage to fight back. His death was announced at 10:00 this morning.
For years, he had stayed at Jerusalem's Hyatt Hotel, near the hostile Isawiya neighborhood. His car was parked openly in the lot, and he refused security as long as his friends in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza were unprotected. My blood is no more sacred than theirs, he would say.
Even those who opposed his political opinions respected and honored this man, who stood by his principles throughout his life, and at the moment of his death. A scion of veteran Labor Party supporters, Zeevi was a fifth-generation Jerusalemite on his mother's side, while his father immigrated during the Third Aliya in the 1920s. At 18 he joined the Palmach (the pre-State elite military unit), and retired from the IDF at the age of 48 with the rank of Major General. And he continued to fight.
His resignation from the post of Minister of Tourism was due to take effect this afternoon. Zeevi never knew a moment of peace; he was planning a right wing demonstration at Jerusalem's Zion Square for next Monday, and a convention of Molodet Party activities in Jaffa a day later.
These two events will now be memorials.
In recent weeks, Zeevi had begun organizing a consumer boycott against the Spanish fashion chain Zara, after it removed Israel from the list of countries whose flags appeared on its price tags. "A quick check revealed that the chain took the measure in order to avoid being perceived as a supporter of Israel!" declared the Molodet website, adding, "We must be united and not let the world march against us!" The statement was signed, "The Association for the Land of Israel."
By the way, there is a link on the Molodet website to Hebrew songs.
Zeevi wrote Moledet's platform himself. Its economic platform calls for free markets, limited government intervention, increased privatization, and free competition. The platform advocates lifting restrictions and government intervention except under extenuating circumstances when such measures are necessary to promote future growth. Completing social legislation, requiring arbitration in labor disputes, and " struggling resolutely against wasting public money" were also parts of the platform.
The man who proudly wore his army identification tag, which he never took off, was chosen by his friend and political opponent Yitzhak Rabin to be an intelligence and anti-terrorist advisor to the prime minister during Rabin's first term in the post.
A few days ago, Zeevi commented on the wave of terrorist attacks striking the world, calling it a "change in values":
"September 11, 2001, will be marked as the start of a new era in history and not merely as a commemorative date for the thousands of victims of the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, nor merely as the date of an unprecedented, ostentatious terrorist attack, nor as the date that opened American eyes to the meaning of Islamic terrorism, but as the date marking a complete change in values by the West."
"From that date, it was realized that there's a military solution to the war against terrorism. From that date it was obvious there could be no talking or negotiating with terrorist leaders, but (that it is necessary) to search out and destroy them. That date put an end to the media-led anarchy called freedom of information, because victory over the enemy is more important. From that date, 'the public's right to know' is not a preferred right that supersedes security interests. From that date, it is possible to arrest and interrogate suspects as needed. From that date, the advice of military leaders is taken seriously. From that date, the opposition keeps quiet and gives its support to the captains of war. From that date, a state that wants to defend its citizens will not be deterred from liquidating terrorists."
"None of this has yet happened here, even though we have been at war with the Arabs for 41 years in the present format. It happened in the great, democratic America, with its immense power, in America with the trauma of the 10-year war in Vietnam. The American president appealed to the newspaper, radio and television editors in his country, and asked them not to publish bin Laden’s statements, and they acceded."
“Here, it is actually the enemy Palestinian spokesmen who are the editors’ darlings, and who fill the airwaves and newspapers. Our media quotes them and their messengers, the Arab MKs, far too much. Back in 1989, the US Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag was an act of freedom of expression. After September 11, there will no more such rulings, and American cannot make enough of their national flag to meet the surging demand."
”But what is already understood in Washington, apparently is not understood in Jerusalem. Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon, who himself fought for years against Arab terrorism, isn't launching a sustained attack against Palestinian terrorism as prime minister. There has been a change in values in post-September 11 America, while we still linger.”
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 17 October 2001