Women In Green Remember Our Friend Gandhi
Women In Green's Annual Purim Party-1998 Gandhi's Sense of Humor
"Woman in Green" Gandhi with "Queen Esther" (Ruth Matar) Our "Woman In Green" with "Wolf" (Ze'evi means wolf in Hebrew)
Rehavam Ze'evi at Maon Farm Before Its Destruction
by Order of Ehud Barak (October 1999)
Amihai Matar with Gandhi Amihai and Nadia Matar with Yael and Rehavam Ze'evi Nadia Matar and Rehavam Ze'evi Photos by Gemma Blech (except for top photo)
From Gandhi's FuneralZe'evi's eldest son, Yiftach Palmach, named after the Palmach brigade of which Ze'evi had been chief scout, delivered the following eulogy [excerpt]:
"You did not merit, beloved son of this land, to be accepted when you were alive. You took upon yourself to be loyal to Eretz Yisrael, even when everyone blared in your ear that a 'New Middle East is shining.' 'You are hallucinating!,' you answered them.
"And to you [plural], you who murdered my father, you temporary residents [of] Canaan, I am telling you that we are staying here, because this is ours!
"And to you, Arik, a friend who was so close at the beginning of the way: Take revenge, the way that Gandhi would have done after you [had this happened to you], and go back to leading the country the way we knew you.
"And you, dear residents of Yesha, and the rest of Israel: We are burying Gandhi today, but he asked me to charge you to be strong and continue to be loyal to the path."(Arutz Sheva News Service, 18 Oct. 01)
The Oslo Conception Murdered Gandhi[The following is a partial translation of Nadia's Arutz 7 show the week after Gandhi was murdered.]
The day on which Rehavam Ze'evi (Gandhi), may the Lord avenge him, was murdered, like many in Israel - I could not function. Like many in Israel, the shock was tremendous. The mind did not want to believe. The body responded with a feeling of profound inner pain. The muscles refused to move. These feelings accompany many of us today as well, more than a week after the murder. In order to keep my sanity, I kept myself busy that terrible day, writing an obituary for the newspapers.
This is the translation of the Hebrew obituary that we sent in the name of our movement:
The "Women in Green" movement bows its head before the hero of Israel, a proud Jew, our cherished friend, Minister Rehavam Ze'evi, may the Lord avenge him, who was murdered by bloodthirsty Arabs. In his death he left a testament for the people of Israel to enlist in the war for the redemption of Eretz Israel."
But the truth is that there are no words.
There are no words to express the pain.
There are no words to express the shock.
There are no words to express the national disgrace.
There are no words to express the greatness of the precious man.
There are no words to express our love and our esteem for him.A special relationship developed over the years between Gandhi, may the Lord avenge him, and Women in Green. A relationship of respect, a relationship of friendship. A relationship that also developed into a personal relationship between our family (the Matar family) and Gandhi, may the Lord avenge him, and his dear wife Yael, may she live a long life.
When the Women in Green movement was in its infancy, when we incessantly protested against the Rabin/Peres government, Gandhi was the only Member of Knesset who stood with us on the sidewalk, mingled among the demonstrators, and demonstrated with us. At these demonstrations Gandhi always delivered emotional speeches that stirred all of us. His words gave us the strength to continue and to persevere.
Every time that we were arrested by the police under then Police Minister Shahal who, you will recall, attempted to repress the national camp and shut our mouths by the use of force against demonstrators, including pregnant and elderly women - it was MK Rehavam Ze'evi who came to our assistance, and who did not rest until we were released from jail.
Our personal family relationship with Gandhi began immediately after the '96 elections. Our son was born two days before the elections. The brit milah (circumcision) was held on the day that we learned officially that the national camp had defeated the Oslo criminals, and that Benjamin Netanyahu had been elected. The brit milah celebration turned into a victory celebration for the national camp, when we still naively thought that Netanyahu would bring about the change we longed for. We held the brit milah in Maarat ha-Machpelah (the Tomb of the Patriarchs).
We were greatly honored that Gandhi consented to be the one who "presents" the baby (the kvatter). We named our son Yisrael Amihai, but Gandhi always called him by the nickname "Dagan," because he was born a while after our struggle on Givat Hadagan.
We kept in touch ever since the brit milah. We were invited to Yael's birthday, and to the wedding anniversary of Yael and Gandhi, a so beautiful and so loving couple. When our Amihai turned three, it was Gandhi who gave him his first haircut. Despite his being very busy, he and Yael came to our home in Efrat to share in our celebration.
It was a great honor for us that our children knew a Jewish hero like Gandhi, even slightly.
When little Amihai, who is five years old now, heard about the murder, he said, in all seriousness and with great sadness: "Daddy, this is the end of the Jewish people." And despite the fact that, physically, the Jewish people obviously continues to exist, five-year-old Amihai's statement expresses a type of truth that we all feel: now that Gandhi is no longer with us, Israel does not have a single true Jewish-Zionist leader.
And despite my having known Gandhi for only a few years, I am at a loss for words to describe him. Gandhi was, first and foremost, a mentsch - a real human being. He always was concerned for others. He always tried to help. He was always there in time of trouble. Someone expressed this well when he spontaneously taped a sign on his automobile: "Gandhi was a true friend!" Hundreds of stories about Gandhi are being told these past days, and together they portray a man who so loved to help his Jewish brethren. The terror victims can attest that Gandhi was the only one among all the politicians who made sure to come to the funerals and/or to console the mourners. In short, Gandhi loved the people, and the people loved Gandhi.
At the same time, Gandhi resolutely held his opinions, uncompromisingly. A proud Jew, a man of truth who is not afraid to tell the truth. A true leader whose entire life constituted a personal example. Accordingly, in addition to all the compliments, the eulogies, and fine recollections that we hear about Gandhi from people on the right, and even from people on the left - I am convinced that Gandhi would expect us to add the bitter truth regarding his murder:
We must remember, and not forget, that Oslo murdered Gandhi. Or, to be more precise, the "Oslo conception" murdered Gandhi.
That same terrible conception that says that we must surrender to terror. Gandhi's murder, like the other murders of Jews since Oslo, is a direct result of capitulation and surrender to terror. All the architects- criminals-supporters-continuers of Oslo cannot say, "Our hands did not shed this blood." Just as they cannot say this about the other victims of the Oslo war. We must recall that Shimon Peres and the other Oslo criminals gave the enemy guns, and ammunition, and cities of refuge. These guns are murdering us every day. These guns also murdered Gandhi.
The war today in Israel is between the "Oslo conception" and the "Gandhi heritage." A war between the post-Zionists and the Zionists. A war between the Israelis who are willing to concede Eretz Israel and hand it over to the enemy, and the Jews, such as Gandhi, who love the land, love the people, and are willing to give their lives for a continued Jewish existence in all of Eretz Israel.
In the last elections the people chose the Gandhi heritage. A heritage of love of the people of Israel, the Land of Israel, and the Torah of Israel.
We thought, in our innocence, that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would represent that heritage. But in recent weeks we were stunned by Ariel Sharon's statements in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of Eretz Israel. At every occasion - even at Gandhi's memorial ceremony in the Knesset - Sharon repeats that he is willing to make "painful concessions." In the last few days, the "Ha'aretz" newspaper has leaked that Sharon has already presented President George Bush with a clear plan for the creation of a Palestinian state in Yesha. When Bush asked Sharon what will happen to the many settlements in those areas that are supposed to be handed over to the Palestinians, Sharon is quoted as saying: "Don't worry. I know how to deal with them". Remembering that it was Sharon who was in charge of uprooting and destroying Yamit, we know what he means when he says he will "deal with the settlements." In fact, people surrounding PM Sharon have told and warned Yesha people that Sharon often repeats that "only he is capable of uprooting settlements."
With his statement in favor of a PA terror state, Sharon thus joined the small band of "Oslo conception" supporters who are struggling against the Jewish "Gandhi heritage." Such an announcement is a betrayal of the mandate that the people gave Sharon. Agreeing to the establishment of a Palestinian state is also a betrayal of the Likud platform, a platform that Sharon is supposed to represent, that states explicitly that "no Arab state will be established to the west of the Jordan." Consent to the establishment of a Palestinian state is a slap in the face of thousands of years of Jewish history in Eretz Israel. It is also a slap in the face to Gandhi's family, to the family of the victims of Oslo, and to the family of all the terror victims and the families of the soldiers who fell in the war for the establishment of the State of Israel.
Throughout our people's entire history, despite all the persecutions, despite the Inquisition, despite the pogroms, despite the Holocaust - no leader could conceive of foregoing a single bit of Eretz Israel. By what right does Ariel Sharon now surrender our land and homeland? Did we establish the State of Israel and sacrifice more than 20,000 of our sons in Israel's wars, in order to give over our land to a foreign people? We call upon Ariel Sharon to retract immediately, publicly, his shameful proclamations of assent to the establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of Israel.
Ariel Sharon received a mandate from the people to continue the "Gandhi heritage." A deviation from this mandate will compel us to bring down the government and to find other leaders.
We pledge to Rehavam Ze'evi - Gandhi, may the Lord avenge him, that we will neither be silent nor still. We will continue his will with greater vigor: the struggle for the people of Israel, the Land of Israel, and the Torah of Israel.
To the Ze'evi family, to our dear Yael and to the dear children, be strong.
We love you.
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