Sunday, September 25, 2005

Not informed

One last word on Simon Wiesenthal.
A farewell ceremony was held for him in Vienna last Wednesday, attended by Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel. His funeral on Friday in Herzliya, Israel, was attended by the Italian, Austrian, Polish and British ambassadors, a representative of the German government, the deputy president of the Russian parliament.
But who was missing from the funeral?
According to Ha'aretz, not one -- not one! -- Israeli government minister bothered taking the time to go. Arutz 7 explains,
Education Minister (Likud) Limor Livnat announced that government ministers were not informed of the funeral arrangements for Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, who was laid to rest in Herzliya on Friday at noon.
I bet they don't wait to be 'informed' of the details of free trips overseas, or details of meetings to discuss overthrowing the Prime Minister. No -- they only 'wait to be informed' of details of funerals they have nothing to gain from attending, even if it would mean showing a bit of respect to one of the most prominent and important Jews of the past 50 years and doing their duty as the representatives of the public.
Can Israel's elected officials get any more pathetic?

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