Yitzchak Rabin: Ten Year Commemoration Videoconference
Click for Video Streaming: www.rabin10years.org
Ten years after the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak
Rabin, the Student division and the Contact Center of the Jewish Agency
for Israel, in partnership with the Rabin Center hosted a multipoint
videoconference to commemorate. Students from Hillels in Argentina,
California, Cambridge and Leeds and students from the Union of Jewish
Students in South Africa joined with Jerusalem representatives from
the Federation of Zionist Youth of the UK, Young Judaea and Israeli
Scouts for the hour-long videoconference. A further three hundred people
watch the conference via Internet streaming, and there was also a Web
TV station in North America that broadcasted the event live.
Professor
Shlomo Ben-Ami, former Foreign Minister, spoke from personal
reflection about Rabin's character and achievements. He described Rabin
as “a sensitive man on the inside, but rough on the edges.”
He left behind a legacy of political compromise and military restraint,
which have only begun to be understood and realized. He was a military
leader who understood the importance of peace in order to achieve security,
and he died at peace with his own ideals.
Each group of students had the opportunity to pose
questions to Professor Ben-Ami after he spoke. One student asked if
Ben-Ami saw any similarities between Rabin and Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon. Ben-Ami commented that while both leaders shared military backgrounds,
both desired political solutions to peace. Read on for comments from
some of the students who participated in the videoconference.
What the students says:
Adam Salkin, Education Officer Leeds Jewish Society.
"The videoconference event with Shlomo Ben Ami was the first
of its kind for Leeds J-Soc. It brought Jewish students from a wide
range of backgrounds together and as well as being both interesting
and stimulating, the event provided us with an opportunity to reflect
upon the life of Rabin and his impact upon Israeli politics and society.
Thank you for the evening, it was warmly received by all".
Alicia Cohen from the California State University,“I was
thrilled we were able to have a global event,” Cohen said.Read
the CSUN article dated November 14 2005
http://sundial.csun.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/11/14/4378c9de8a316?in_archive=1