Hadash members of the Knesset have called to repeal the law commemorating Rehavam Ze’evi, the late far-right former general and cabinet minister, following the broadcast of a television report disclosing some of his darker facets. The report depicted Ze’evi as a rapist and serial sexual predator who socialized with criminal figures, ordered thugs to beat up journalists, and was a cold-blooded killer who committed war crimes.
General Ze’evi, left, with IDF Chief Rabi Shlomo Goren and General Ariel Sharon in the sixties (Photo: GPO)
MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash – the Joint List) said over the weekend that Ze’evi was not worthy of commemoration, not only because of the TV exposé. “I’m appalled that Israeli society sees Ze’evi’s rapes as serious crimes, but not his involvement in war crimes, killing civilians and prisoners,” she said.
MKs from right-wing parties have said little about Ze’evi since the Thursday broadcast. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet presumably do not want to antagonize Ze’evi’s racist supporters. In the “Uvda” (Fact) television reportage, Rafi Eitan, a fomer Mossad agent and cabinet minister, claimed that Ze’evi shot two innocent Bedouin in the Negev before the 1967 Six-Day War, killing one and wounding the other.
According to an Haaretz editorial published on April 17, “Rehavam Ze’evi was a bully — in his personality, his worldview and his political platform. He prevailed over the helpless, from women soldiers to prisoners of war. He used thugs to strong-arm journalists and he led an extreme right-wing party that aspired to expel Arabs. Many knew of Ze’evi’s despicable acts — from sexual assaults against women, physical abuse of Arabs to friendships with convicted murderers and underworld figures — but that did not stop him from being elected to the Knesset and joining the government. These acts were also reported in a fragmented way in the press. But it was only last week that his victims and witnesses to his acts of violence worked up the courage to go before the cameras in Ilana Dayan’s investigative journalism program Uvda.”
“The Knesset made a mockery of itself in legislating ‘Ze’evi’s legacy’ — a costly disgrace financially but even more in terms of values. Now that the victims have dared to speak out, it is not too late to fix this distortion. Ze’evi’s true legacy is contemptible. A state that claims to educate its children for morality and truth cannot allow itself to sanctify the values of a man who was a racist, a man of violence and a serial sexual offender,” said the daily newspaper editorial.
