In numbers far-exceeding expectations, more than 100,000 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on Nov. 1 to mourn the assassination and celebrate the legacy of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was killed 20 years ago by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir, who opposed Rabin’s efforts to broker a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Israeli scouts and youth associations, families and activists from various political parties—many with signs calling for “peace now”—filled dozens of city blocks around Rabin Square, the site of the killing and, since then, of annual memorials.
“Twenty years ago, a vicious murderer stood in this square and aimed his pistol at Yitzhak Rabin. Yitzhak fell in the line of duty. We were – all of us – in the crosshairs; the State of Israel, Israeli democracy, Israeli society, Israeli hope. We all were the target,” Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, said.
Although at past rallies the tone was somber, Rivlin evoked optimism from attendees by underscoring the hope for a transformation of circumstances to Israel’s decade’s old conflicts.
“We are here today because we have a dream. Because alongside debates over the path we should take, alongside our different hopes and identities, we also share a common dream. We share a common Israeli dream. While we may debate the path, we are dreaming together of an Israel led by the beacon of justice,” Rivlin said.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton who was a friend of Rabin and a negotiating partner of the late prime minister and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat followed with a heartfelt speech.
“Ten years ago, when I was honored to stand at this space, I said that if I could miraculously bring Rabin back to life and he was standing here with me, he would have said ‘enough with this bragging about me, let's get back to work and finish what I was trying to do,’ ” Clinton said.
“The next step will be determined by whether you decide that Rabin was right, that you have to share your future with your neighbors, that you have to stand for peace, that the risk for peace isn't as severe as the risk of walking away from it. We are praying that you will make the right decision,” he continued.
Clinton echoed Rivlin’s concerns that Israelis are at a crossroads with weaning support for Rabin’s pursuit of a two-state solution and rising extremism, “All of you need to decide how to finish his legacy. The last chapter needs to be written by the people for whom he sacrificed his life.”
“A bullet can take a man's life, but his spirit, his dream for peace will never die,” U.S. President Barak Obama said in brief a video message.
Since Rabin’s assassination, Israeli and the Palestinian leadership have sat down for three more rounds of talks in last decade and a half. While debates continue as to whether or not Rabin could have brokered a historic peace agreement, among Israelis, it was Rabin who embodied an earnestness to strike a lasting accord more than the any other Israeli prime minister; Rabin served during the height of a thriving Israeli peace movement, domestic economic growth, and relative stability in the broader Middle East region.
While the same political schisms between Israel’s right and left persist today as in Rabin’s time, many said frustrations over political deadlock are at a high. Juxtaposing today’s instability – with more than 30 attacks by Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank as well as the killing of 70 Palestinians during the month of October – against the Rabin-era, which also included the end of the first Intifada, many were nostalgic for the buoyant atmosphere that surrounded the Rabin reign and spoke glassy-eyed of the “good old days.”
“I think that there’s a feeling that it’s not really the memory of Rabin, but dissatisfaction on the part of the people here over the political situation in Israel, and they came to say something about that,” said Tzipi Jacob, 70, from Ra’anana, who attended the event with her husband and grandson.
“I’m pro-peace, and I think since Rabin was murdered, the hope for peace has really gone downhill,” said Michal Boico, 37, from Tel Aviv.
For Boico, attending the event was also a moment to publicly show support for Rivlin, who is increasingly viewed by Israelis as the heir-apparent to Rabin’s legacy, more so than the heads of the late prime minister’s Labor political faction.
“His approach is really pro-peace, pro-humanity, and it doesn’t matter if he is from Likud or Labor,” said Boico.
In recent months Rivlin’s overtures against extremism during increased attacks on Israelis have made him a target of death threats and memes on social media depicting him in a Nazi uniform, which have drawn comparisons between him and Rabin. The president warned his efforts for reconciliation within Israeli society would continue, in spite of increasing opposition from Israelis aligned with the far right.
“And to those who seek to silence others, to those who threaten, to those who raise their clenched fists, to those who design pictures of SS uniforms, to those who threaten members of the legislature and judiciary, to those who threaten minsters and prime ministers, I want to say to them all: ‘We do not fear you,’ ” Rivlin said during the rally.
“He came from the right wing, and he’s acting in a very brave and noble way, and he’s even saying things that are dangerous to life,” said Roi Herzlich, 38, a musician and video maker in Tel Aviv active in the Labor party. “I appreciate him a lot. He’s the last man that we can say is standing for democracy, standing for the sane view.”
“In the midst of this wave of violence, it’s quite an outcome; it’s quite a turnout,” remarked Dan Slyer, 38, an LGBT advocate with the center Yesh Atid party. Herzlich and Slyer are close friends, although active in rival political parties, and both felt the turnout symbolized that Israelis still hold onto the views they held two decades ago, despite the current stalemate in the peace process.
“I think that still the majority of Israelis are for peace, and they miss the concept of what Rabin wanted to do, it’s just that in general people from the outside should know that it’s the two groups of extremists from that are ruining everything,” Herzlich said. “That’s the whole story all of the time. We have the settlers, we have the extremists from the Palestinian side, they are ruining it for the majority all of the time and that is the tragedy.”
“We were all 18 when Rabin was assassinated here, and it feels like it was yesterday and nothing changed. Everything got worse, I think, which is very sad. Many friends of mine are leaving Israel, because they don’t see any future, things are becoming violent; things are becoming hopeless. But the people that came here probably—at least—do not want to lose hopefulnes,” mused Herzlich, “because if we lose the smallest hope we have, we are just doomed.”
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