MINDY ROSS/ Daily Bruin Senior Staff History professor
David Myers speaks about the late Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s legacy.
By Melody Wang
Daily Bruin Reporter
To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the death of Yitzhak
Rabin, a memorial service was held Friday afternoon in Meyerhoff
Park, amid some opposition.
The UCLA Hillel and Bruin Friends of Israel co-sponsored the
event, in memory of Rabin, then prime minister of Israel, who was
assassinated Nov. 4, 1995 at a peace rally.
Israel Chair of UCLA Hillel Shani Yacoby said it is important to
remember Rabin’s dream of peace in Israel.
“He dedicated his entire life to the state of
Israel,” Yacoby said. “We’re here to honor his
dream and make it a reality.”
But not everyone at the memorial felt Rabin deserved
recognition. One student went so far as to tear up an Israeli flag,
throwing it on the floor.
“It offends us because they’re commemorating him as
a man of peace when he was part of a terrorist organization”
said Haider Sabri, a third-year computer science student.
According to Sabri, under Rabin’s rule, armies invaded
Lebanon and killed thousands of people.
At the time, Jews at the event did not acknowledge the student
who tore up the flag.
“I believe that peace is our weapon,” said Roee
Ruttenberg, a ’00 graduate.
Rabin started off as a military man who fought in Israel’s
War of Independence in 1948. According to speakers at the event, he
underwent a transformation in the ’90s and became a man of
peace.
“He was a general for whom war came quite
naturally,” history Professor David Myers said. “But he
recognized in the last year of his life that war is not
sufficient.”
Because Rabin did not understand the depth of hatred on each
side, some people think his vision of peace was disillusioned,
Myers said, adding he believes Rabin’s legacy was not overly
idealistic and lives on today.
The late prime minister pursued the peace process because he
didn’t want to corrupt his nation, oppress people or have
Israel occupied, said Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller.
“These goals are still important goals and we should be
careful not to fall prey to pessimists who say current violence
means that they were never really sincere,” Seidler-Feller
said. “He taught us not to lose hope.”
At the memorial, students sang songs in Hebrew, read poetry, as
well as the speech Rabin made at the peace rally where he died.
“These are just students who want to show they want peace
to appeal to the innocent American public,” Sabri said
Meanwhile, other students thought the memorial a success.
“I thought it was a very powerful memorial and it brought
students together from all over,” said Maya Zutler, a
fourth-year sociology student.
Yacoby said she was happy so many students attended the
event.
“It just shows that they are really concerned with the
peace process,” she said.