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The coffin of the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was placed in the Knesset. Speaker Rivlin eulogized: ”You were a rock, unbreakable, with only one weakness gnawing at you: Your love of your homeland, your family, of Shulamit...”
Publicized: July 2, 2012
The coffin of the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was placed this morning (Monday) in the Knesset’s State Hall; The Knesset Speaker laid the wreath on the coffin and spoke in his memory. He began by saying: ”This hall of democracy was honored by having you, as Speaker of the Knesset, the Prime Minister, as head of the opposition, as a leader rooted among his people.”
Rivlin went on saying: ”You`re cast stone, Isaac, unbreakable. Bearing on your shoulders the burden of this nation the past and the future. Remembering in your heart the ashes of the crematoria and the hope of redemption. Nothing could distract you out of your way. Iron tools and weapons of destruction could not touch you, could not threaten you. Flattery, bribery, and double talk - were never on your tongue, were not part of your language. Only one small weakness relentlessly gnawed at you. Only one small weakness managed to breaking through the solid rock to carve the stones, and build from them the foundations to establish the kingdom of Israel. It was love: Your love of this persecuted people; your love of the homeland of our fathers, of the land of eternity; your love of your children, your home; your love of your Shulamit.”
The Knesset Speaker ended his speech saying: ”Sir, commander of Israel`s Freedom Fighters, my man, Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, my honored Prime Minister of Israel and an eternal soldier. On my behalf, on behalf of your friends and subordinates; on behalf of the congregation of Israel, on behalf of anonymous soldiers, in the service of the country and in the underground; in the name of the State of Israel, we bow our heads to you. You were dedicated to the people all your life, and now ‘from duty be released only by death.’ In a few hours we`ll say our goodbyes, when you’ll be interred in the ground of Jerusalem, the ground of this good land, for which you have lived and fought.”
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