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The remains of Theodor Herzl’s grandparents were reburied in Jerusalem on Wednesday, exactly 77 years after the father of Zionism was reinterred in the same cemetery on Mount Herzl.
Shimon and Rivka Herzl were laid to rest in a moving ceremony attended by a host of Israeli dignitaries, including President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The couple had been moved from their graves in Belgrade, Serbia, following “four years of determined Zionist and diplomatic efforts,” according to a Facebook post by the World Zionist Organisation.
They lived near Belgrade, and Shimon served as a Jewish community leader, helping shape the young Theodor’s attachment to Judaism and Zionism.
He was close to Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, a Bosnian rabbi, who was one of the early influential advocates of a Jewish return to the Land of Israel.
They are now memorialised close to their famous grandson, who died in 1904 but was laid to rest in Jerusalem on August 5, 1949, as well as other members of the Herzl family.
A delegation from the WZO worked together with representatives of the Israeli Military Rabbinate, ZAKA, and the Israeli Embassy in Serbia to transfer the remains in accordance with Jewish law, before they were flown to Israel.
Speaking at the event, Netanyahu said: "The long journey of the Herzl family from foreign soil to the soil of Zion ends here today, on Mount Herzl."
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