Yitzhak Rabin (help·info) (or Yitschak Rabin) (or Yitzchak Rabin) (יצחק רבין in Hebrew), (March 1, 1922 – November 4, 1995) was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel from 1974 until 1977 and again from 1992 until his assassination in 1995 by Yigal Amir, a right-wing activist who had strenuously opposed Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords. He was the first local-born Prime Minister of Israel, the only Prime Minister to be assassinated and the second to die in office (following Levi Eshkol).
Youth and service in the Palmach
Rabin was born in Jerusalem in what was then Palestine (formal: British Mandate of Palestine). He grew up in Tel Aviv, where his family moved when he was one year old, and in 1940 he graduated with distinction from the Kadoori Agricultural High School. His matriculation was his last formal education, with the exception of some military strategy courses which he later took in the United Kingdom. He aspired to become an irrigation engineer.
In 1941, during his practical training at Kibbutz Ramat Yochanan, Rabin joined the Palmach section of the Haganah, and rose to the position of Chief Operations Officer in October 1947.
In 1948, the year of Israel's independence, Rabin married his wife, Lea.
IDF service
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he directed Israeli operations in Jerusalem and fought the Egyptian army in the Negev. In 1962 he rose to the position of Chief of Staff in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Under his command, the IDF achieved an overwhelming victory over Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the Six-Day War in 1967. After the Old City of Jerusalem was captured by the IDF, Rabin was among the first to visit the old city, and then delivered a famous speech on the top of Mount Scopus at the Hebrew University.
Ambassador and Minister of Labor
Following his retirement from the IDF, he became a diplomat, serving as ambassador to the United States beginning in 1968. In 1973, he was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Labor Party, and was appointed Minister of Labor.
First term as prime minister
On June 2, 1974, he was elected Party leader and succeeded Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel.
This term in office was most famous for Operation Entebbe, in which, on his orders, the IDF rescued passengers of a plane hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Rabin resigned from office after two crises hit him: the arrival of four F-15 jets on Shabbat led to the breaking up of his coalition; and the exposure of a US Dollar bank account held by his wife Lea Rabin, an act forbidden at that time by Israeli currency regulators. Rabin took responsibility on his wife's account and resigned from office.
Opposition member and minister of defence
Following his resignation, Likud's Menachem Begin was elected in 1977. Rabin was later hailed by many commentators for his resignation, who said that this was a sign of integrity and responsibility.
During the late 1980's Rabin was a Minister of Defence in several unity governments and enacted harsh measures to break the first Intifada. He was quoted as saying 'We should break their arms and legs' (referring to Palestinian rioters).
Second term as prime minister
In 1992 he was once again successfully elected Prime Minister. He played a leading role in the signing of the Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority and granted it partial control over parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Prior to the signing of the accords, Rabin received a letter from PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat renouncing violence and officially recognizing Israel, and on the same day Rabin sent Arafat a letter officially recognizing the PLO on September 9, 1993. (See: Israel-Palestine Liberation Organization letters of recognition.) During this term of office, Rabin also oversaw the signing of the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace (1994).
For his role in the creation of the Oslo Accords, Rabin was awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres. The Accords greatly polarized his image in Israeli society, some seeing him as a hero for advancing the cause of peace and some seeing him as a traitor for giving away land they saw as rightfully belonging to Israel. Also, Rabin's government was kept in office with the (somewhat concealed) assistance of Arab-Israeli parties in the Knesset.
Assassination and aftermath
- Main article: Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
The monument at the site of the assassination: Ibn Gevirol Street between the Tel Aviv City Hall and Gan Ha'ir (in the back)
On November 4, 1995, Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, after attending a rally promoting the Oslo process at Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square (which was renamed to Yitzhak Rabin Square after his death). Rabin died of massive blood loss and a punctured lung on the operating table at the nearby Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was a shock for most of the Israeli public, which held rallies and memorials near the place of the assassination, his home, the Knesset and the home of the assassin. The funeral of Rabin was attended by many world leaders, among them U.S. president Bill Clinton, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and King Hussein of Jordan.
Some people disagree on the circumstances of Rabin's death as concluded by the court of justice, the judicial inquiry committee, Israeli government and the press, supporting various conspiracy theories instead.
A national memorial day for Rabin is set on his death date, and the square in which he was assassinated was named after him, as well as many streets and public institutions.
Today, Rabin is remembered by most as Israel's great man of peace, despite his military career. After his untimely death, Rabin was turned into a national symbol, especially for the Israeli left. There is some disagreement on the relation between his untimely death and the ensuing halt to the peace process and rise of the Israeli Right.
Other assassinations of Jewish leaders in Israel's history
Yitzhak Rabin's assassination was not the first or last time that a Jewish leader had been shot in the midst of political controversies and upheavels during the history before and after the establishment of the State of Israel:
- Jacob Israël de Haan was assassinated by the Haganah on July 1, 1924 allegedly for his political stance, although there may have been additional factors stemming from strong feuds with others.
- Chaim Arlosoroff was shot while walking with his wife Sima on a beach in Tel Aviv in 1933. Some think that it was other Zionists who disagreed with his views that did it, or that it was Arabs or British or Nazis.
- Rudolf Kasztner was killed by an assassin March 15, 1957 in Tel Aviv. In the 1950s he was accused of profiting from his dealings with the Nazi occupation government in Hungary.
- Meir Kahane, leader of Israel's Kach party and former member of the Knesset, was assassinated by an Egyptian Islamic terrorist during a visit to New York City on November 5, 1990.
- Rehavam Zeevi, an Israeli general who founded the right-wing nationalist Moledet party, was assassinated by agents of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on October 17, 2001 during the Al-Aqsa intifada.
In addition, Arab-Israeli sheikh Hamad Abu Rabia, a member of the Knesset from the original United Arab List was assassinated on December 1, 1981, by the sons of Druze-Israeli politician Jabr Moade, after Abu Rabia did not keep a rotation agreement with Moade. Moade replaced Abu Rabia in the Knesset.
See also
Further reading
- Benedikt, Linda: Yitzhak Rabin: The Battle for Peace, ISBN 190495006X.
- Horvitz, David (editor): Shalom, Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, ISBN 155704287X
- Karpin, Michael and Friedman, Ina, Murder in the Name of God - The Plot to Kill Yitzhak Rabin, ISBN 0805057498.
- Kurzman, Dan: Soldier of Peace: The Life of Yitzhak Rabin, ISBN 0060186844
- Rabin, Yitzhak: The Rabin Memoirs, ISBN 0520207661
- Drosnin, Michael: The Bible Code, ISBN 0752809326
References
External links
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