The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the fifth
prime minister of Israel
The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exec ...
, took place on 4 November 1995 (12
Marcheshvan
Marcheshvan ( he, מַרְחֶשְׁוָן, Standard , Tiberian ; from Akkadian , literally, 'eighth month'), sometimes shortened to Cheshvan (, Standard Tiberian ), is the second month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei), and the ei ...
5756 on the
Hebrew calendar
The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. ...
) at 21:30, at the end of a
rally
Rally or rallye may refer to:
Gatherings
* Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade
* Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event
Sport ...
in support of the
Oslo Accords at the
Kings of Israel Square in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...
. The assassin, an Israeli
ultranationalist
Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...
named
Yigal Amir
Yigal Amir ( he, יגאל עמיר; born May 31, 1970) is an Israeli right-wing extremist who assassinated former Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin. At the time of the assassination he was a law student at Bar-Ilan University. The assas ...
, radically opposed Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...
's peace initiative, particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords.
Background
The assassination of
Israeli Prime Minister
The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exe ...
Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...
was the culmination of an anti-violence rally in support of the
Oslo peace process
The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; . Rabin was disparaged personally by right-wing conservatives and
Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sha ...
leaders who perceived the peace process as an attempt to forfeit the
occupied territories
Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...
and a capitulation to Israel's enemies.
National religious conservatives and Likud party leaders believed that withdrawing from any "Jewish" land was
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
.
The Likud leader and future prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
, accused Rabin's government of being "removed from Jewish tradition
..and Jewish values". Right-wing rabbis associated with the settlers' movement prohibited territorial concessions to the Palestinians and forbade soldiers in the
Israel Defense Forces from evacuating Jewish settlers under the accords.
Some rabbis proclaimed ''
din rodef
A ''rodef'' ( he, רודף, "pursuer"; , '), in traditional Jewish law, is one who is "pursuing" another to murder him or her. According to Jewish law, such a person must be killed by any bystander after being warned to stop and refusing. A sourc ...
'', based on a traditional Jewish law of self-defense, against Rabin personally, arguing that the Oslo Accords would endanger Jewish lives.
Rallies organized by Likud and other right-wing groups featured depictions of Rabin in a Nazi
SS uniform, or in the crosshairs of a gun. Protesters compared the Labor party to the Nazis and Rabin to
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and chanted, "Rabin is a murderer" and "Rabin is a traitor".
In July 1995, Netanyahu led a mock funeral procession featuring a coffin and hangman's noose at an anti-Rabin rally where protesters chanted, "Death to Rabin". The chief of internal security,
Carmi Gillon
Carmi Gillon (born January 1950) ( he, כרמי גילון) is an Israeli politician and a former Israeli ambassador to Denmark and head of Shabak, the internal General Security Service (GSS; Israeli Security Agency, ISA) of Israel.
After the 4 ...
, then alerted Netanyahu of a plot on Rabin's life and asked him to moderate the protests' rhetoric, which Netanyahu declined to do. Netanyahu denied any intention to incite violence.
Rabin dismissed such protests or labeled them ''
chutzpah
Chutzpah () is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. It derives from the Hebrew word ' (), meaning "insolence", "cheek" or "audacity". Thus the original Yiddish word has a strongly negative connotation but the form which entered English ...
''. According to Gillon, Rabin refused his requests to wear a bulletproof vest and preferred not to use the armored car purchased for him. Left-wing supporters organized pro-peace rallies in support of the Oslo Accords. It was after one such gathering in Tel Aviv that the assassination took place.
Yigal Amir and ''din rodef''
The assassin was Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old former
Hesder
Hesder ( he, הסדר "arrangement"; also Yeshivat Hesder ) is an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces, usually within a Religious Zionist framework. The program all ...
student and
far-right law student at
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academi ...
. Amir had strenuously opposed Rabin's peace initiative, particularly 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 ''
rodef
A ''rodef'' ( he, רודף, "pursuer"; , '), in traditional Jewish law, is one who is "pursuing" another to murder him or her. According to Jewish law, such a person must be killed by any bystander after being warned to stop and refusing. A sourc ...
'', meaning a "pursuer" who endangered Jewish lives. The concept of ''din rodef'' ("law of the pursuer") is a part of traditional Jewish law. Amir believed he would be justified under ''din rodef'' in removing Rabin as a threat to Jews in the territories.
In the
Israeli settlements, pamphlets debating the validity of applying ''din rodef'' and ''
din moser
DIN or Din or din may refer to:
People and language
* Din (name), people with the name
* Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates
* Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken by ...
'' ("law of the informer") to Rabin and the Oslo Accords were distributed at synagogues. Both carried a death sentence according to traditional
Halakhic law. There was disagreement among religious Zionists as to whether Amir ever secured authorization from a rabbi to carry out the assassination of Rabin. His father later said that in the months before the assassination, Amir repeatedly "said that the prime minister should be killed because a ''din rodef'' was issued against him". During his later trial, Amir stated: "I acted according to ''din rodef''. ... It was not a personal act, I just wanted
abin
The Brazilian Intelligence Agency ( pt, Agência Brasileira de Inteligência, ABIN) is the main intelligence agency in Brazil. ABIN's mission is to ensure that the Federal Executive has access to knowledge related to the security of the State a ...
to be removed from his position".
For his radical activities, Yigal Amir had been brought under attention by the Israeli internal security service (
Shin Bet
The Israel Security Agency (ISA; he, שֵׁירוּת הַבִּיטָּחוֹן הַכְּלָלִי; ''Sherut ha-Bitaẖon haKlali''; "the General Security Service"; ar, جهاز الأمن العام), better known by the acronym Shabak ( he, ...
), but the organization only had information on Amir's attempt on creating an anti-Arab militia, not on comments regarding assassinating Rabin, which he openly stated to a number of people. Another incident describing Amir's comments to a fellow student about stating the
vidui
In Judaism, confession ( he, וִדּוּי, vīddūy) is a step in the process of atonement during which a Jew admits to committing a sin before God. In sins between a Jew and God, the confession must be done without others present (The Talmud ca ...
prior to an earlier, aborted attempt on his life was ignored by the organization as "non-credible". The source refused to name Amir by name but instead described him as a "short Yemeni guy with curly hair".
Rally
In response to the intense street protests by right-wing opponents of the Oslo peace process, a coalition of left-wing parties and peace groups organized a rally in support of the peace process in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...
's
Kings Square on 4 November 1995. Rabin attended the rally, along with others such as
Minister of Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...
Shimon Peres. The rally attracted a crowd in excess of 100,000 people. In his remarks at the rally, Rabin declared, "I always believed that most of the people want peace and are ready to take a risk for it".
Assassination
After the rally, Rabin walked down the city hall steps towards his car. As he entered the car, Amir approached the car from the rear and fired two shots at Rabin with a
Beretta 84F semi-automatic pistol. Rabin was hit in the abdomen and chest. Amir was immediately subdued by Rabin's bodyguards and police on the scene, and fired a third shot at bodyguard Yoram Rubin during the struggle, lightly wounding him. Amir was arrested on the scene with the murder weapon. He was taken to a police station a few blocks away.
[Barak T]
Ten years have passed, friend
''Tel Aviv Newspaper''
Yoram Rubin attempted to get Rabin in the car but Rabin's body was "limp and heavy".
Another of Rabin's bodyguards, Shai Glaser, helped put Rabin in the backseat of the car. The driver, Menachem Damati, was ordered to proceed to Ichilov Hospital at the
Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center ( he, המרכז הרפואי תל אביב ע"ש סוראסקי; commonly referred to as Ichilov Hospital) is the main hospital complex serving Tel Aviv, Israel and its metropolitan area and the second-largest h ...
, a short drive away. Damati became disoriented by the hysteria of the shooting and the crowds that lined the streets, and as a result lost his bearing. Rabin, who was bleeding heavily, was initially conscious and said that he thought he'd been hurt but not too badly before passing out.
Damati drove frantically trying to find the hospital, running red lights and swerving to avoid pedestrians. When he spotted a police officer, Pinchas Terem, he ordered him to get in the vehicle and direct him to the hospital. Two minutes later at 9:52 PM, some ten minutes after the shooting, the car arrived at Ichilov Hospital.
At this time, Rabin was not breathing and had no pulse. Doctors performed an initial examination, attached Rabin to an
IV, and drained the air that had seeped into his right chest cavity with a tube inserted into his ribcage. After the air was drained from Rabin's chest, his pulse reappeared.
He then underwent surgery. Meanwhile, cabinet ministers, military officers, security officials, and family members of Rabin arrived at the hospital, as did Rabin's Chief of Staff
Eitan Haber. After Israeli media reported the shooting, a crowd of spectators and journalists began to gather in front of the hospital. At one point, the doctors managed to briefly stabilize his vital signs, and after being informed, Haber told a high-ranking Defense Ministry official to begin preparations for setting up a makeshift office at the hospital with telephones and fax lines to enable Rabin to continue his work as Prime Minister while recuperating. However, Rabin's condition rapidly deteriorated again. After his heart stopped, a surgeon carried out a cardiac massage in a last-ditch attempt to save him. At 11:02 PM, one hour and thirty-two minutes after the shooting, doctors gave up their efforts to revive Rabin and pronounced him dead.
At 11:15 PM, Eitan Haber walked out of the hospital to face the television cameras outside and announced Rabin's death to the media:
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
Shir LaShalom ( he, שיר לשלום ''A Song for Peace'') is a popular Israeli song that has become an anthem for the Israeli peace movement.
History
Shir LaShalom was written by Yaakov Rotblit and set to music by Yair Rosenblum. It was first p ...
" ("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.
Shortly after Rabin's death, an emergency meeting of the Israeli cabinet was held during which
Shimon Peres, then serving as Foreign Minister, was appointed acting Prime Minister.
About three hours after Rabin's death, Dr.
Yehuda Hiss, the Israeli government's chief pathologist, arrived at Ichilov Hospital to conduct an autopsy together with two assistants, including a photographer.
The autopsy found that one bullet had entered Rabin's lower back, ruptured his spleen, and punctured his left lung, while the other pierced his back below the collarbone, smashed through his ribcage, and pierced his right lung. Hiss concluded that Rabin had died of massive blood loss and the collapse of both of his lungs, and that his chances of surviving the shooting had been extremely low. A subsequent brain scan found an embolism in one of Rabin's cerebral arteries, a large pocket of air which had entered his bloodstream in the lungs and traveled to the brain, restricting the flow of blood and oxygen. This blockage had hindered the resuscitation effort.[
Amir was interrogated by Chief Superintendent Motti Naftali. He made a full confession and after being told that Rabin had died, Amir expressed joy and asked to be brought ]Schnapps
Schnapps ( or ) or schnaps is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions, and "flavored liqueurs" made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to neu ...
to make a celebratory toast. Police officers and Shin Bet
The Israel Security Agency (ISA; he, שֵׁירוּת הַבִּיטָּחוֹן הַכְּלָלִי; ''Sherut ha-Bitaẖon haKlali''; "the General Security Service"; ar, جهاز الأمن العام), better known by the acronym Shabak ( he, ...
agents subsequently raided the Amir family home in Herzliya, where they arrested Amir's brother Hagai, whom he had implicated as an accomplice during his interrogation.[
]
Aftermath
Rabin's funeral
The funeral of Rabin took place on November 6, two days after the assassination, at the Mount Herzl
Mount Herzl ( he, הַר הֶרְצְל ''Har Hertsl''), also ''Har ha-Zikaron'' ( lit. "Mount of Remembrance"), is the site of Israel's national cemetery and other memorial and educational facilities, found on the west side of Jerusalem beside ...
cemetery in Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, where Rabin was later buried. Hundreds of world leaders, including about 80 heads of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...
, attended the funeral. President of the United States Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, King Hussein of Jordan
Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of ...
, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013.
Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...
, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (russian: Ви́ктор Степа́нович Черномы́рдин, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Unio ...
, Spanish Prime Minister and European Council President-in-Office Felipe González
Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a Spanish lawyer, professor, and politician, who was the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, and the 3rd Prime Minister of Spain since the ...
, Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien, acting Israeli Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (; , ar, بطرس بطرس غالي ', ; 14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from 1992 to 1996. An academic ...
, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in ...
, President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso
Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer. He became president of the Republic of the Congo in 1997. He served a previous term as president from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as ...
, and President of Israel Ezer Weizman
Ezer Weizman (; he, עֵזֶר וַיצְמָן ''Ezer Vaytsman''; 15 June 1924 – 24 April 2005) was the seventh President of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Ai ...
were among those present.
A national memorial day for Rabin is set on the date of his death according to the Hebrew calendar
The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. ...
.
Trial
Yigal Amir was tried for Rabin's murder, while his brother Hagai Amir and Dror Adani, who were his accomplices in the murder, were tried for conspiracy to murder Rabin. Yigal Amir was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for Rabin's murder and an additional six years for injuring Yoram Rubin. While in Israel it is customary for the President to reduce a life sentence to a set period, usually 20–30 years, with a possibility for further reduction for good behavior, Amir's sentence was not reduced. In 2001, the Knesset later passed the Yigal Amir Law, which prohibits a parole board from recommending a pardon or reduction in a sentence for the assassin of a Prime Minister. Adani was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, while Hagai Amir was sentenced to 12 years in prison, increased to 16 years upon appeal, and later received an additional year in prison for threatening to kill Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Adani was released in 2002 and Hagai Amir in 2012. Yigal Amir remains incarcerated.
After the murder, it was revealed that Avishai Raviv, a well known right-wing extremist at the time, was in fact a Shin Bet
The Israel Security Agency (ISA; he, שֵׁירוּת הַבִּיטָּחוֹן הַכְּלָלִי; ''Sherut ha-Bitaẖon haKlali''; "the General Security Service"; ar, جهاز الأمن العام), better known by the acronym Shabak ( he, ...
agent-informer code-named Champagne. Raviv was later acquitted in court of charges that he failed to prevent the assassination. The court ruled there was no evidence that Raviv knew assassin Yigal Amir was plotting to kill Rabin.
Social impact
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
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
building, and the home of the assassin. Many other streets and public buildings within Israel and internationally 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
The Middle East Institute (MEI) is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank and cultural center in Washington, D.C., founded in 1946. It seeks to "increase knowledge of the Middle East among the United States citizens and promote a better understa ...
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.
See also
* Kempler video
* Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories
References
Further reading
* Karpin, Michael and Friedman, Ina. (1998) ''Murder in the Name of God: The Plot to Kill Yitzhak Rabin''. Granta Books. .
External links
"Israel marks Rabin assassination"
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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