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Rabin: Five Years

by

Ami Isseroff

I remember walking around Malkhei Yisrael Square (now Rabin Square) in Tel-Aviv with a friend, five years ago on the day following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.  We both had the feeling of living a nightmare: “This isn’t happening.” Perhaps tomorrow we would wake up and the deep bass voice would be there to reassure us once again. However, there was no waking up from this nightmare.

Now we are living a second nightmare, and we sorely miss the vision and inspiration of a great leader. Rabin’s life was devoted to Israel. In 1948, he fought to penetrate the Palestinian blockade and save Jerusalem from starvation. In 1967, as Chief of Staff of the IDF, he was largely responsible for the stunning victory that gave the Greater Israel movement the territories they so cherish. At one time, everyone in Israel believed that all the wars were being fought to secure peace, not to secure territories.  Rabin always said those territories were hostages for peace. Some did not believe him, and some forgot with time. Rabin did not forget. When the time came, he stood ready to lead us to that peace. But this Moses would not be allowed to enter the promised land.

The commemoration of Rabin’s death, supposed to unify Israel, highlights the differences. A poll shows that 12% of Israeli Jews think that Yigal Amir, Rabin’s assassin, should be pardoned. Among Orthodox Jews, 77% percent said they would not commemorate Rabin’s assassination in any way, not by prayer or even by pausing to think about it. Even among non-religious Jews, only 60% would commemorate the event.

As the ideals of peace are sundered by political reality, cynical calculations of gain and religious fanaticism, the memory of Rabin has been exploited in many ways. Israeli media have been rife with   speculation about what Rabin would have done in the present crisis, and reminders that Ehud Barak is not Rabin. “Rabin would have given back all the territories,” “Rabin would not have made concessions in Jerusalem,” “Rabin would have concluded an agreement long ago,” “Rabin would have taken effective action on the first day.”  What would Rabin say to all of this? He was known for direct and salty speech. Probably he would say it was all “bablat” – nonsense. He would add that if granny had wheels she would be a locomotive.

We cannot expect to raise Rabin’s spirit and get answers to the pressing problems of the present, and we must not use Rabin as a magic charm to advance pet solutions and political viewpoints. It is easy to make a complex good and precious ideal into something banal and vulgar.

We need to remember Itzhak Rabin as a symbol of our aspirations, of what the idea of Israel once was, and of what we want to reality to be. We were given a precious gift in Rabin’s life and we squandered it. Let us at least preserve the memory for us and our children.

Ami Isseroff
Rehovoth,
Israel

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