GW and Georgetown students commemorated the life of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the eighth anniversary of his death Tuesday.
GW’s Student Alliance For Israel and the Georgetown Alliance For Israel co-sponsored the event, held at GW Hillel. The program featured Jay Footlik, former special assistant to President Clinton on Israeli-American affairs, and his wife Grace Mozes, who screened a short film she wrote on young people living in Israel. The speakers, along with about 70 attendees, reflected on Rabin’s life and discussed the current situation in Israel.
Footlik, who met Rabin on several occasions with President Clinton, spoke fondly of the relationship between the two heads of state.
“The relationship between these two men was almost like that between a father and a son,” he said. “In Rabin, Clinton found someone to go to for advice.”
Footlik said he respected Rabin’s work in trying to bring peace between Israelis and the Palestinians. He recounted the moment in September 1993 when the world witnessed Rabin shake hands with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Because of today’s violence and unrest in Israel, Footlik said it is important to remember Rabin.
“It is sad to look back on the past three years,” he said. “It’s a depressing time for Israel and it’s hard to see how far we have gone from peace. May Yitzhak Rabin’s memory always be a blessing to you and to Israel.”
Mozes’ short film “Keep on Dancing” gives an account of the daily experiences of young Israelis who are forced to deal with the threat of terrorist attacks.
“What in Israel is escaping, is in other places just life itself- going to work, going to a party, sitting in a cafe,” said a young woman Mozes interviewed.”
“I made this movie because I saw how the media viewed Israel, and I felt like we were fighting two wars – one war against terror and the other against world opinion,” Mozes said.
She said she wanted to document the real experiences of young people, who tried to live normal lives confronted by this fear.
“My generation experienced a lot of guilt when Yitzhak Rabin was killed, for not standing across from his protestors and telling them that he was a hero,” she said. “I told myself after that I would not stand by again and let something like this happen.”
Many students at the event were visibly moved by the film’s depiction of life in Israel.
“I have always associated Yitzhak Rabin with the peace in Israel, but this film showed me a whole different image of what life is like when that peace is lost,” said Georgetown student Jonathan Aires, who helped organize the event. “I came here tonight because there was a time and a place when people thought peace was possible, and through the bloodshed Israel is experiencing today, it’s important to remember someone like Yitzhak Rabin, and his legacy in Israel.”
