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Dennis Donovan

(18,770 posts)
Wed Nov 4, 2020, 08:01 PM Nov 2020

25 Years Ago Today; Israeli PM Yitzak Rabin assassinated in Tel Aviv by right wing extremist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin


PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, as U.S. President Bill Clinton watches in 1993.

The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin took place on 4 November 1995 (12 Marcheshvan 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, an Israeli ultranationalist named Yigal Amir, radically opposed Rabin's peace initiative and particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords.

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, at which time Amir fired three shots at Rabin with a Beretta 84F semi-automatic pistol. He was immediately subdued by Rabin's bodyguards and arrested with the murder weapon. The third shot missed Rabin and slightly wounded security guard Yoram Rubin.

Rabin was rushed to nearby Ichilov Hospital at the Tel Aviv Sourasky 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. The government shall convene in one hour for a mourning session in Tel Aviv. Blessed be his memory.

In Rabin's pocket was a blood-stained sheet of paper with the lyrics to the well-known Israeli song "Shir LaShalom" ("Song for Peace" ), which was sung at the rally and dwells on the impossibility of bringing a dead person back to life and, therefore, the need for peace.

Rabin's funeral
The funeral of Rabin took place on November 6, two days after the assassination, at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, where Rabin was later buried. Hundreds of world leaders, including about 80 heads of state, attended the funeral. President of the United States Bill Clinton, King Hussein of Jordan, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Spanish Prime Minister and European Council President-in-Office Felipe González, Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien, acting Israeli Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso, and President of Israel Ezer Weizman were among those present.

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

Social impact


Yitzhak and Leah Rabin's grave on Mount Herzl.

Rabin's assassination 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 assassination has been described as emblematic of a kulturkampf ("cultural struggle" ) between religious right-wing and secular left-wing forces within Israel. Ilan Peleg of the Middle East Institute has described Rabin's assassination as "reflecting a deep cultural divide within Israel's body politic [...] intimately connected with the peace process" which illustrates both increased polarization and political conflict in the country.

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 Jewish extremists.



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25 Years Ago Today; Israeli PM Yitzak Rabin assassinated in Tel Aviv by right wing extremist (Original Post) Dennis Donovan Nov 2020 OP
And the damnable thing is, the assassin "won"... regnaD kciN Nov 2020 #1

regnaD kciN

(26,044 posts)
1. And the damnable thing is, the assassin "won"...
Wed Nov 4, 2020, 08:03 PM
Nov 2020

...because, in the next election, Israeli voters picked Netanyahu over Rabin's second-in-command Peres, and the peace process Rabin championed was truly dead and buried.

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