World Jewish News

Yuval Rabin, son of Yitzhak Rabin: My father never passed the buck or whined – not like today

Yuval Rabin, son of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, leveled a blistering attack on current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accusing his government of maintaining an ever-expanding list of “enemies,” including IDF chiefs of staff, police chiefs, intelligence agencies, artists and others who don’t espouse the “right” views.”.

“Mr Prime Minister, in 2009 I shook your hand. I rose above my personal pain and anger. But today, let me be clear: What happened 22 years ago was murder. It was political, with clearly spelled-out goals. And yes, there was incitement,” Rabin fumed.

“Rabin never passed the buck or whined – even when he was exposed to the terrible expressions of hatred. He was everybody’s prime minister. Would that it were that way today… there is no one around today that is willing to put a stop to this insanity,” he added.

Yuval Rabin, son of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, leveled a blistering attack on current Prime Minister Benjyamin Netanyahu, accusing his government of maintaining an ever-expanding list of “enemies,” including IDF chiefs of staff, police chiefs, intelligence agencies, artists and others who don’t espouse the “right” views.”.

“Mr Prime Minister, in 2009 I shook your hand. I rose above my personal pain and anger. But today, let me be clear: What happened 22 years ago was murder. It was political, with clearly spelled-out goals. And yes, there was incitement,” Rabin fumed.

“Rabin never passed the buck or whined – even when he was exposed to the terrible expressions of hatred. He was everybody’s prime minister. Would that it were that way today… there is no one around today that is willing to put a stop to this insanity,” he added.

In many ways, Rabin’s fusillade marked a return to the period following the murder, when Leah Rabin, Rabin’s widow, famously refused to shake Netanyahu’s hand at the funeral, and many religious Zionists felt that the Rabin family and the Oslo-supporting half of the political map cast collective blame on the religious Zionist sector for the murder.

Accordingly, Rabin’s attack on Netanyahu Wednesday was far from the only criticism of a growing trend to use the annual commemoration to emphasize national unity and a focus on the events in the elder Rabin’s life that resonate with a large majority of Israelis: The theme of Saturday night’s memorial rally in Tel Aviv is national unity, and speakers from inside and outside the political world have focused in the media on Rabin’s central role in the 1948 War of Independence and IDF Chief of Staff during the Six Day War in 1967.

Rabin’s missive also related to a growing theme among national religious Israelis: Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked have both said in recent months that the religious Zionist world would no longer bow in eternal submission for a murder that happened a generation ago. It was a point repeated by Esther Brot, a resident of Ofra who is scheduled to address the annual memorial rally on Saturday.

“The public debate on both sides made (the murder) possible,” Brot told Israel Broadcast Corporation (Kan) Wednesday. Brot, who was evicted from her home in Ofra earlier this year, said that Rabin,ד assassin was a “despicable murderer,” but noted both that he acted alone, and that the left side of the political map also has a history of violent speech.

“I would only note that the first prime minister who was accused of being a murderer was (Menachem) Begin. The left has called Gush Emunim a ‘cancer on the body of our nation’ and called for plowing over Ofra with tanks,” Brot said.

But Brot’s point did little to defuse frustration from politicians and activists who believe they are the rightful guardians of Rabins’ legacy. They say the move to use Rabin’s memorial to emphasize unity is little more than an attempt to whitewash the unhappy facts surrounding the murder.

“Maybe it bears reminding: Rabin was not murdered because of a disagreement over a board game. Unity that is achieved by blurring arguments is the type of unity you see in North Korea,” said Meretz Party Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On.

EJP