The CRIF in action
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Published on 19 November 2005

SHALOM HAVER

1200 people gathered at Paris’s City Hall on November 14, 2005, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The evening’s event had been organized jointly by the Paris City Hall authorities and the Paris Yitzhak Rabin Association with CRIF’s active support. Several personalities had come to pay tribute to the memory of Yitzhak Rabin, among them Jordan’s ambassador to Paris and also Leila Shahid, the former representative of the Palestinian Authority in Paris.



“Paris intends to draw on its deepest values of true greatness by honoring Yitzhak Rabin,” said Bertrand Delanoë, the Mayor of Paris as he opened the ceremony. Recalling his loyalty to Rabin’s message, he continued: “We are all combatants for peace.”

Unable to attend the evening’s event, messages of friendship and respect were sent by Shimon Peres, Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdallah II. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, declared: “We were dealing with a courageous man, a man of peace, a man who walked the talk.” “He is missed by all of the Middle East,” he added. King Abdallah II remembered Yitzhak Rabin as “the man who together with my father defended a noble cause, the cause of peace.” The King of Jordan also wished to pay tribute to Rabin’s legacy, “a legacy of courage and vision.” In a message full of peace and hope, the King said: “We know the goals we are pursuing. Justice for the Palestinian people. Security for the Israeli people. Two States living side by side, meeting the conditions of international law. For the young generation, a new opportunity to undertake a constructive life that will provide an alternative to despair and hatred.”

Roger Cukierman, president of CRIF, paid tribute to the statesman who became a Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was able to take courageous decisions and whose message of peace is being passed down to succeeding generations.

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