The American film actor Christopher Reeve landed yesterday (Monday) in Israel for a five-day visit. His visit was intended to show solidarity with the people of Israel and with victims of terrorism. In addition, Riv requests to meet in Israel with researchers and scientists who specialize in spinal injuries. Reeve, who starred in the successful film "Superman" in 1978 and in many other films after that, became a global spokesperson for the fight for spinal cord injuries, since he was injured in 1995 in a riding accident, which left him paralyzed from the neck down.
Upon his arrival at the Dan Tel Aviv Hotel, Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom held a reception in his honor. Shalom greeted Riv and said: "It is my honor, pleasure and privilege to welcome you, as a true friend of Israel. For me you are a hero and a source of inspiration, and so for many other Israelis. I am happy that you came to visit Israel, to visit the research institutions, to meet scientists researching the field of spinal injuries and to keep up to date with innovations in the field, and to our hospitals, where many Israelis - including victims of terrorism - are dealing with similar injuries."
Riv opened his words in Hebrew, with the words "Shalom Israel", and said: "It is an honor for me to be here, in this part of the world. Israel is very special to me, I wanted to come here long before I was injured. I came to see, experience, learn and also to convey a message of hope to the people recovering in Israel."
After dinner, Riv met with Israeli entertainers and researchers, such as Professor Michal Schwartz, a senior researcher at the Weizmann Institute, with whom Riv was supposed to meet. The singer Shalva Barti sang a song in his honor, and the entertainer Eli Yitzfan imitated Shimon Peres and Ariel Sharon for him, which drew loud bursts of laughter from him.
