Opposition Leader: Netanyahu 'Divided Jerusalem'
JERUSALEM, Israel -- At the 20th annual memorial service for assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, opposition leader and Labor Party Chairman Yitzhak Herzog blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for the upsurge in violence and failure to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.
Rabin was assassinated on Nov. 4, 1995, at a rally in Tel Aviv in support of the Oslo Accords. Rabin's bodyguards arrested Yigal Amir, weapon in hand, just after he fired.
Herzog has repeatedly rejected Netanyahu's calls to join a unity coalition, preferring to speak against the government on behalf of the opposition.
"After many years, there are only right-wing members in the government," Herzog told participants at the memorial. "This is a fully right-wing government. There are no lefties in it. You don't have a scapegoat to blame."
The Labor Party chairman accused Netanyahu of dividing Jerusalem, perhaps by declaring it Israel's eternal, undivided capital when the Palestinians claim the city's eastern sector for its future state.
"You are responsible for almost 10 years [of governing] and in your time Jerusalem was divided, not under Peres or Rabin, only you're responsible," Herzog alleged.
Netanyahu, for his part, said there's a reason the past six prime ministers have been unable to reach an agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Rather than coexist with Israel, the P.A. hopes to replace the Jewish state.
"[They are] unwilling to give up the dream of returning to Haifa and Jaffa," Netanyahu said, and "they educate their children to hate Jews," a fact substantiated in P.A. school curriculum, as well as in the media, mosques, and government.
"Rabin hoped this trend would change, but he was met with cruel waves of terrorism and radical Islam," he said.
Netanyahu said until Israel's neighbors understand they will not defeat Israel by force there will be no peace. He promised to continue fighting incitement and terrorism "with all our might."
Meanwhile, 76-year-old Richard Lakin, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, who was stabbed and shot in the terror attack on an Egged bus on Oct. 13, died Tuesday morning. He was the third fatality in that attack. His family posted news of his death on Facebook.
"Dad passed away this morning," YNet quoted the post. "He was 76 years old and had eight grandchildren. He was butchered by Muslim terrorists who shot him in the head and stabbed him multiple times during an attack on Bus 78 in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood."
"After the attack Dad was rushed to Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem where the incredible staff worked diligently around the clock for two weeks trying to save his life but alas his injuries were too severe," the family said.
"We love you Dad and will do our best to live respectful, loving lives and pass along 'acts of kindness,'" the post concluded.
Herzog may blame that attack on Netanyahu, but differing perspectives don't change what took place.
A week later, an alert driver prevented two knife-wielding Arab jihadists from boarding a school bus in Beit Shemesh, a city of 100,000 residents about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, in what could have been an unspeakable tragedy.
