"Rehavam Ze'evi dedicated his life to protecting the existence of the State of Israel,"
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday during a special Knesset session in memory of the slain minister, also known as Gandhi.
"For Gandhi, brotherhood among soldiers and friends was an utmost value," said Lieberman in the Knesset plenum.
Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni told the session, "On this day, we all – those of us who agreed with his politics and those of us who disagreed with his opinions – cling to the memory of Gandhi the person."
"Gandhi knew this country, its history, the way of the Bible and poetry. He did not just live in it, he lived it," she said.
Ze'evi was 75-years-old when he was shot in the head by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine member Hamdi Qur'an on the eight floor of the Jerusalem Hyatt Hotel on October 17, 2001. He was immediately rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, where he later died of his wounds.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said during the session that he saw "similarities" between Gandhi and (slain prime minister Yitzhak) Rabin.
"They both reached high-level military positions and were both killed at the hands of evil assassins. In my eyes, they are a reflection of the state of Israeli society," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the special session but did not speak. During a memorial service
held in Ze'evi's honor on Sunday at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl cemetery, Netanyahu said Jerusalem "owes a great deal to Gandhi".
"For 19 years Hebrew Jerusalem was crowded and pressed into a narrow corridor, closed off from three sides and separated by a hostile line," the PM said. "The government of Israel decided to unify Jerusalem and attach the Old City. The task was given to Gandhi. The unified map approved by the Knesset was his handiwork."
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