Yitzhak Shamir memorial ceremony brings to light history repeating itself
Several political leaders presented the parallels between the political climate in Shamir's time and today.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIPresident Reuven Rivlin stands before the graves of Yitzhak and Shulamit Shamir.(photo credit: Mark Neiman/GPO)
The annual memorial ceremony for former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir and his wife Shulamit was held on Friday at Mount Herzl, where several political leaders brought to light the similarities between the political climate in Shamir's time and today.Minister of Science and Technology Ofir Akunis spoke at the memorial service, saying that "it seems that the last few weeks in Israeli politics remind us of the last months of Shamir's term as prime minister.""The party that defeated Shamir's right-wing government was the right-wing parties themselves and not the left-wing opposition, which led to the establishment of a left-wing government and the terrible disaster of the Oslo Accords," Akunis continued. "I hope that such a historic mistake will not be repeated in the upcoming elections."Akunis concluded with his plea to the mayor of Tel Aviv to change the name of King George street to Yitzhak Shamir street.Likud MK Uzi Dayan, with the protests by the Ethiopian citizens of Israel throughout the past week, took to Twitter to criticize them, saying that "this year, no representatives who made aliyah from Ethiopia participated in the memorial." He later clarified that he brought it up as a "hope for better days and not as judgement.""With every passing day his unique image becomes stronger in my eyes," the president said of Shamir. "He was a man of the national camp with every fiber of his being. Commitment to Israel, to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel, as an expression of Jewish independence, were the axes upon which his life moved.""We are also commemorating Shulamit, his wife since they were youngsters. She was concerned with the weaker members of society," he continued. "As wife of the prime minister she did a great deal for those who were less fortunate."
