Have any lessons been learned from Rabin’s assassination?

October 28, 2009 - 9:11 PM by David

Yitzhak Rabin singing "Song of Peace" shortly before he was shot and killed.
Thursday marks the 14th anniversary of the death of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin – certainly one of the cataclysmic events of Israel’s short history.

The divisions among the country’s citizens which led to Rabin’s assassination are still very apparent, with venom from both the Right and Left toward each other spouting freely without any attempt to mask the hatred. The Right blames Rabin and his followers on the Left for the failed Oslo process and the Left blames the Right for the environment that enabled an Israeli to take the life of a prime minister.

While most of the country mourns Rabin’s death and marks each anniversary with sadness, there’s a not so small minority who don’t take part in the collective grief and go about their business like any other day. It’s not a holiday that brings the country together.

Still, there are attempts at unity. President Shimon Peres opened the 24 hours of commemoration saying that the former prime minister’s vision of peace will not be abandoned. The state ceremony, held at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, was attended by Rabin family members, ministers, members of Knesset, and students from schools throughout Israel.

“Israel’s young generation has kept in their hearts the knowledge that such a despicable murder mustn’t ever happen again,” said Peres. “When the criminal took Yitzhak’s life, he intended to extinguish all hope for peace as well, but his plot will not succeed.”

Peres added that while peace has many enemies outside of Israel, there are also many skeptics within Israel’s own borders. He added that “Rabin’s assassination delayed the entire process and hampered the diplomatic course, but the understanding between us and our neighbors has grown, and its urgency has not changed.”

Memorial ceremonies will continue Thursday throughout the country, and the state ceremony is scheduled to take place in Mount Herzl cemetery at noon.

I remember leaving my newspaper that night after putting out the Rabin assassination edition thinking that Israel was in mortal danger from within, and wondering if we would survive. 14 years, we have perservered, but still have many lessons left to learn and internalize about what kind of country we want to build here.

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Tags: 14th anniversary, assassination, Israel, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin • Category: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Politics, coexistence

Comments

3 Comments on Have any lessons been learned from Rabin’s assassination?

David-Joe on Thu, Oct 29th 2009 1:44 AM

Lessons?

That faith and force is synomymous is one lesson that must be learnt and separating it from politics is required – gosh where has that been heard before? OMG!! The Framers of the US Constitution realized it!

And that the liberal equivalent of mystical humanism leading to a pacifist midset is equally evil.

Where is Zionism? It is not taught and it is not spoken of.

Maybe we should all discover that in Jewish history it has been civil strife that has ultimately collapsed Jewish States.

And forgetting Zionism is forgetting why Israel exists.

Rabin had become a pacifist. Trusting the Arabs and singing songs. Perhaps in his old age he had become feeble.

But he was a great soldier and defender of Israel in his time and the act of assasination was an evil act made even more awful because it was done by one of “US”.

Israelis have to become Zionists again. Otherwise? Otherwise there is nothing.

Sigfrido Samet on Thu, Nov 5th 2009 11:36 AM

Rabin was a great man. He was not killed by an arab or palestinian. His murderer is a fanatic jew (who couldn’t bear peace). How could he be so near Rabin? Of course he was not alone; there are many fanatics. This is the dilemma: fanatism or democracy; “left” and “wright” have nothing to do here.
Zionism is an ideology. You can support Israel as a State, without being zionist.

Picture of the week: The long goodbye to Rabin | ISRAELITY on Wed, Nov 11th 2009 10:33 AM

[...] of Israeli society. It’s an open-wound that as David so rightfully pointed out in his post, Have any lessons been learned , hasn’t yet been [...]

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