Christopher Hitchens was invited to speak at the memorial held for the late journalist Daniel Pearl. At this memorial he quoted a part of the final scene of Macbeth, dedicating it to Daniel Pearl's parents.
Daniel Pearl was a Jewish American working as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal. He also held an Israeli citizenship. Pearl was abducted by terrorists in Pakistan and later a video was released of his horrendous execution by slitting of his throat and following that, a beheading.
Christopher Hitchens had been invited to speak at the memorial that was held at the UCLA campus, by the family of Daniel Pearl. Earlier he had been taken by the UCLA ROTC cadets to another part of the campus to visit the veteran's memorial. The memorial was prompted by the death of Irvine, CA native, 23 year old 2nd Lieutenant Mark Daily in Mosul, northern Iraq.
At the event of the scattering of Lieutenant Daily's ashes on the Oregon coast, Hitchens quoted these lines from Shakespeare, with difficulty - as he himself testifies.
Here, at the memorial for Daniel, he again quotes these very fitting few lines, dedicating them to the Pearls.