Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

Site of the rally before the assassination: Rabin Square and Tel Aviv City Hall during the day.

The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin took place on November 4, 1995 (12th of Cheshvan, 5756 on the Hebrew Calendar) at 21:30, at the end of a rally in support of the Oslo Accords at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv. The assassin, Yigal Amir, a right-wing religious Zionist strenuously opposed Rabin's peace initiative and particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords.

[edit] Prelude

The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister and defense minister Yitzhak Rabin was the culmination of Israeli right-wing dissent over the Oslo Peace Process. Rabin, despite his extensive service in the Israeli military, was disparaged personally by rightwing conservatives and Likud leaders who perceived the Oslo peace process as an attempt to forfeit Israeli land for peace. Contrary to Likud’s accusations, Rabin was focused on the consolidation of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. He planned to give the Palestinian Liberation Organization control of 90% of the West Bank’s Arab population, while retaining 70% of the land in the occupied territories. In a speech to the Knesset, Rabin promised that Israel would continue to have “total freedom of action in order to fulfill the security aims that touch upon the permanent solution.”

Nonetheless, hostility continued to mount against Rabin. Likud Leader (and future Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu accused Rabin’s government of being “removed from Jewish tradition … and Jewish values.” Netanyahu addressed protesters of the Oslo movement at rallies where posters portrayed Rabin in a Nazi SS uniform or being target by in the cross-hairs of a sniper. Rabin accused Netanyahu of provoking violence, a charge which Netanyahu strongly rebuffed.^[1]

[edit] The Assassination

The monument at the site of the assassination: Solomon ibn Gabirol Street between the Tel Aviv City Hall and Gan Ha'ir (in the back). The monument is composed of broken rocks, which represent the political earthquake that the assassination represents.

After the rally Rabin walked down the city hall steps towards the open door of his car. Three shots were fired towards Rabin.

The assassin was Yigal Amir, a former Hesder student and far-right law student at Bar-Ilan University. Amir had strenuously opposed Rabin's peace initiative and especially the signing of the Oslo Accords because he felt that an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank would deny Jews their “biblical heritage which they had reclaimed by establishing settlements.” Amir had come to believe that Rabin was a din rodef, meaning a ‘pursuer’ who endangered Jewish lives. The concept of din rodef was not a part of traditional Jewish law and had been resurrected by ultra-orthodox rabbis from Brooklyn and the settlements. Under din rodef, Amir would be justified in removing Rabin from being a threat to Jews in the territories.^[2] Amir had been under surveillance by the Israeli secret police (Shin Bet), but the agent monitoring him had concluded that Amir posed no threat to the Prime Minister's life.

He was immediately subdued by Rabin's bodyguards and arrested with the murder weapon, a Beretta 84F .380 ACP caliber semi-automatic pistol. He also shot and slightly wounded Yoram Rubin, a security guard, with a third bullet that missed Rabin.^[3][4] Incidentally, Rubin was also a geography student at Bar-Ilan University at the time.

Rabin was rushed to Ichilov Hospital at the Tel Aviv Medical Center, where he died on the operating table from blood loss and a punctured lung within 40 minutes. Rabin's bureau chief, Eitan Haber, announced outside the gates of the hospital:

"The government of Israel announces in consternation, in great sadness, and in deep sorrow, the death of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was murdered by an assassin, tonight in Tel Aviv. May his memory be blessed."

In Rabin's pocket was a blood-stained sheet of paper with the words of the song Shir Lashalom ("Song to Peace"), which ironically dwells on the impossibility of bringing a dead person back to life and therefore the need for peace.

[edit] Reactions and funeral

Yitzhak and Leah Rabin's grave on Mount Herzl

The assassination of Rabin was a shock to the Israeli public. Rallies and memorials took place near Kings of Israel Square—later renamed Rabin Square in his honor—as well as near Rabin's home, the Knesset building, and the home of the assassin. Many other streets and public buildings around the country were named for Rabin as well.

The funeral of Rabin took place on November 6, the day after the assassination, at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, where Rabin was buried. Hundreds of world leaders, including about 80 heads of state, attended the funeral.^[5] Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin,^[6] Spanish Prime Minister and European Council President-in-Office Felipe González^[7] Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien, acting Israeli Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres,^[8] United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali,^[9] President of the United States Bill Clinton,^[10] King Hussein of Jordan,^[11] Rabin's granddaughter Noa Ben-Artzi Filosof,^[12] former director-general of the prime minister's office Shimon Sheves,^[13] Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,^[14] President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso director of the Prime Minister's Bureau Eitan Haber,^[15] and President of Israel Ezer Weizman^[16] were among those present.

Yigal Amir's act was and to some extent still is a great source of embarrassment to the religious Jewish community, initially leading to a wave of soul-searching^[17] and denial (such as through the Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories).

A national memorial day for Rabin is set on the date of his death according to the Hebrew calendar.

On 28 March 1996 the Shamgar Commission issued its final report into the assassination. It was critical of Shin Bet for putting the Prime Minister at risk and ignoring threats to his life from extremists.^[18]

[edit] Further reading

• Karpin, Michael and Friedman, Ina, Murder in the Name of God - The Plot to Kill Yitzhak Rabin, ISBN 0-8050-5749-8.
• Smith, Charles D. Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict A History with Documents, ISBN 0-3124-3736-6

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin

• The Assassination of Rabin, television news report, BBC
• "Israel marks Rabin assassination", BBC, Nov 12, 2005
• "A sombre night in Rabin Square", BBC, Nov 12, 2005
• Could He Have Been Saved? An article by Ronen Bergman in Haaretz
• 10-minute video of Rabin's assassination hosted on Google Video
• Assassination part of the Kempler video on CNN (10 seconds)
• Koenraad Elst on Yitzhak Rabin's Assassination

Coordinates: 32°04′54.8″N 34°46′51.4″E / 32.081889°N 34.780944°E / 32.081889; 34.780944