Yitzhak Rabin's Last Speech

I too would like to add my condolences over the shocking assissination of the Prime Minister. I think the people here in New York were totally shocked and just wanted to gather together to mourn. We lit candles and went to the Israeli Consulate and felt so helpless -- like we wanted to do something. We all grieve with your wonderful nation and its people. More than anything, I hope this leads to lasting peace. Shalom, Aline Bernstein

From: Melody Winnig

I'm an American Jew who's worked in Egypt and travelled through many Islamic countries. Since I was little, the phrase "Peace in the Middle East" has been echoing in my household -- regardless of the current political issues between Israel and her neighbors or within Israel itself. But living in the USA where it is safe, I have also often been an armchair critic of Israel's policies -- especially after I visited some of the Palestinian camps. With Rabin's assasination and all the discussion and retrospective articles, I see how much more complex and historically rooted the whole peace process is. And how it is not mine to judge or condemn the circuitous way it unfolds. I have much admiration for you and all the other Israelis that are willing to take a stand for peace and also lve in an environment where you stand can have all kinds of repercussions. Peace, Melody

From: Russel Harris

I feel very sad The world goes on. Why should I feel this way about someone I have never met? On Sat night 11h30 we heard the news and went home. It was shocking, depressing! To me I sit here at the office and it (life here)all means shit! Sometimes I think I am too idealistic. It was "the Day the Music Died" Ru'el Ben'Alec, Johannesburg, South Africa

From: Sandy Ashri

This has been a very long, painful week for Israel. One week ago, I attended what was supposed to be a rally for peace and against violence. That night,less than two hours after I had heard Rabin sing Shir Hashalom, he was dead. How could it be? How could it happen here? I used to tell my friends in America that it wasn't unusual to be out for a walk in Jerusalem and pass the Prime Minister also strolling by. Or, be sitting behind Rabin and next to his body guard at an army ceremony. All that is over now. We are going to be a country like any other country. The leaders will be heavilly guarded and I doubt if I'll ever shake the Prime Minister's hand again. How sad.As a lecturer at Bar Ilan, I will have to work very hard to change the image that one crazy student created.I only hope that this tragedy won't tear us apart.It's been a sad week.

From: giorgio

May Rabin rest in peace and his memory be blessed. It is a sad fact that great men often met ends like this for their greatness. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi also paid with their life for their effort to estabilish a just and peaceful society.

From: Jonathan Korer

Although the peace process will indeed bring a certain measure of peace and security to Israel, an everlasting peace and a cease to all bloodshed will only come through G-d and through the coming of Messiah. My deepest condolences to Mrs Rabin and family and with prayers and hopes for the final and complete redemption from all suffering and pain. "

From Eshnav Computinga

(As a religious Jew) I personaly take it very seriously for two reasons. I feel that something should be done by religious Jews to recover (if possible) the damage done by the horrible Chilul Hashem made by these terrorists. It is needed also because knowing the talented leftist politicians, I know that the situation will be used to fight everything connected to Torah. This will only turn the extreme rightists to become more dangerous. The second thing that I am moved by, is the overwhelming reaction of the youngsters in Israel. I think this is one of the most great spiritual changes that happened to the Jewish people. I am sure it will give unexpected fruits that will influence the events to come. So, there is a lot to think of, and lot to do. Politicians should continue their work, but citizens like me and you have another role, which demand a lot of thinking to define. Offer

From: Ronni

Stop crying, start hitting

There are those who claim that "Arabs understand only force" -- which means that they themselves only understand the language of violence. This is my proposal for a new bumper sticker for Israeli cars. In Hebrew it rhymes...

From: The Sidwell Friends School

Yitzhak Rabin was a great man, whose heroic efforts brought the Middle East ever closer to peace. His legacy of peace must be, and will be, carried on by youths of all nations.

Sacrificing Yitzhak

By Dror Gliksman

Most people’s eyes are hidden behind thick sunglasses. November’s sun could be painfully bright in Tel Aviv. I found my self trying to avoid eye contact. Too much rage, too much pain and too much shame blend into the forceful rays.

Shame of being one of us, shame of not having wings to fly and catch the soared of hatred, shame for eating the fruits of his labor without him.

His fatherly ever-so-slow voice can not guide us and assure us any more. Which way should we go? What is the right direction? Cellular phones are ringing from side streets. Should we head east or west? Up or down? Should we stop and think? Should we run? Our nation sacrificed its shepherd for the vision of a better, peaceful life. Is it the myths fault? This will not happened here, we are different, chosen people. . . .

Clouds start rolling in, the ray of light start loosing its strength, turning red and painting clouds with blood. I am filling up with rage. Slowly, my thoughts are getting clearer. I am beginning to be focus and channel my anger.

So, listen up you dream smashers. watch out enemies of peace because revenge is on the way. We will make peace with our neighbors. We will strive for a nonviolent life, for regional prosperity and cooperation. We will fight for Rabin’s peace with the same dedication we fought our wars.

Thousands of years ago Abraham try to sacrifice his son Yitzhak on the hills of the Shomron. Today the hills sacrificed Yitzhak. Tomorrow we will sacrifice the hills for Yitzhak.

Prime Minister Rabin has been murdered

By Charles Lenchner

As if according to the script of an evil Hollywood producer aiming to create the most horrific vision imaginable in Israeli politics, we have our 'Kennedy.'

Finally, after two whole years of right wing cries accusing Rabin of being a "murderer", "a traitor", and threatening him with a kind of civil opposition new to Israeli politics, we see the introduction of yet another novelty into our country, courtesy of the right wing: political assassination.

This writer spent last evening with Yitzhak Rabin. I waved good-bye to him and to the hundreds of thousands of friends who sang peace songs together, and went home.

It was only this morning that I learned that I had the honor of spending time with Rabin on his last evening alive. I can only hope, and pray, that the euphoria of that evening, was the last thing on his mind as everything turned to gray, and then to black.

The alternative, is that Rabin died with a pain far worse than any gunshot could be. The pain that we are left with after Yitzhak is gone. The pain that reminds us with a burning in our intestines that Israel has just taken a dramatic turn for the worse.

After fifty years of fantasizing that we can be a different kind of country, that Jews are a different kind of people, we now have to live with a scar that tells us: a Jewish assassin has shot and killed a Jewish Prime Minister, in the Jewish State. You are no better than anyone else. Some of you in fact, are a whole lot worse.

The Price is Peace

by a Joe Shea

The assassin who killed Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin in Israel reportedly told police he acted on orders from God against a man, he said, who was a traitor to Israel.

But Yitzhak Rabin was far closer to God than his assassin will ever be, we believe. His courage was not only proven in pursuit of Israel's freedom, as President Clinton noted, but was also demonstrated in the rough and tumble life of Israeli politics, where he doggedly stuck to agreements made in the halls of diplomacy as he defended them on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He was a man God loved, a warrior for Israeli independence and a hero of its peace.

At the American Reporter, the very first response to our bulletin on the assassination was from a man who declared that the event was proof that only the Likud Party could lead Israel.

How sad, and how tragic, that so many misguided Jews still fail to see the ends of the violence they argue for against Palestinians who seek a homeland that was once mostly theirs.

It bothers us deeply that the Bar Ilan law student who killed Prime Minister Rabin could imagine that God works through murder. It is God's opposite number, we believe, who invades the raging mind and steers it to homicide.

The world will be an uneasy place in years to come. Jerusalem is a place of great significance to all religions, and now Acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres must bend himself again to the task of bringing forth from a terrible legacy the spirit of brotherhood each of the great religions has at its heart.

It is a so much deeper irony that the pursuit of peace has claimed the lives of so many good men, starting with Anwar Sadat and ending we know not where. What a great price we pay for it!

The Age of Personal Responsibility

By Michael Eilan

I was trying to call a friend in Jordan who was worried about the assassination. We had left each other messages during the day, but now, quite late at night, all the lines between Israel and Jordan were busy, probably with similar calls.

This is the reality that Yitzhak Rabin created. My late father met Rabin about 25 years ago when he was appointed Israel's ambassador to Washington. What impressed him most about Rabin, then the victorious general of the six day war, was what he called his ability to read the political map. Rabin realized that there would be no peace between Israel and the Arab world without peace with the Palestinians.

The last time I saw Rabin in the flesh was at the Amman summit, happy and excited about the new world that was about to happen in the Middle East. Politically, I was never among his fans. I thought he should have read that map far better 25 years ago. But before his death I had to admit that he had the magnificent grace of change.

Now the lines to Amman are still busy. So instead of talking to my friend in Jordan it makes most sense to write here what I mean to say to these precious new friends in the Arab world.

We have nobody to trust but our inner voice. In Hebrew, a language with roots like Arabic, the words for conscience, compass, cipher and concealment come from the same root. A secret within your heart that gives reason and direction.

Our Rabbis, Imams and Priests can't do the job for us any more. Rabin's assassin was guided by Rabbis who interpreted the texts to serve emotional needs. Imams do the same, I know. Christianity is less effective is letting blood nowadays but it had a royal run for its money.

What is left is that same lonely place that Ibn Arabi and Maimonedes indicated. The place of choice. The place that you can love or not love knowing there is only one love. There is no support system in this place. No rules to tell you to do this or that. Maybe, I speculate, the age is really turning and there are no teachers except for the one teacher in our heart.

The lines to Amman are still busy, and I do have a practical message. My choice, and the choice of all of my friends is to continue making peace. Being a political animal I can tell you that this is Israel's choice, because a sudden shock can do wonders for one's sanity. We will, I am sure, prevail.

I went tonight to visit the place where he was killed. It is a large plaza which was filled with quiet people lighting candles. I have never seen an Israeli crowd so quiet. There was more determination is this quiet than I have ever seen except for the times when a major war with you, our Arab neighbors, threatened our borders. But this quiet was not like the almost automatic response to wars. New, strange, and far stronger.

A Man of Stature and Credibility

Rick Chebab

As Arab American, I wish to express my deepest sympathy to you and the people of Israel for the death of one of the greatest heroes of peace, Ishaq Rabin. He was a man of stature and credibility. It was comforting to hear your assessment that the peace process will continue.

Joe Costello

Blessed be the peacemakers for they shall inherent the earth.

Peace

What Happened?

Martha Swartz

Maybe the Amercian media makes too much of all the mishegas that goes on with the crazed right- wingers. Frankly, they scare me as much as any right-wingers do - I don't care who they are. If they're fanantics I find them frightening and disgusting.

My sympathy to you and your countrymen, and to every peace lover around the world. Clinton was on TV with tears in his eyes, and all the flags are at half-mast here. This is a day when I am embarassed to be a Jew. We have shed too many tears and too much blood for something like this to happen.

Lynda McGraw

Last night, I had a chance to reflect on the murder and everything. My 81-year-old father, a Holocaust survivor and Israeli citizen, simply said, "now we're really a country." I lost it at that point.

Rabin Hero Of Peace 1922-1995

S Suewllam

Arab Electronic Journal

Almost one year ago I wrote an Internet article honouring the Late President Sadat under the title "Sadat the immortal hero of peace" in which I said Sadat should have a statue in every Arab capital as he was the first Arab leader who taught the Arabs that you can get through peace whatever you cannot get through war and that the battle for peace requires more courage than the battle in war.

Sadat took the road toward peace alone . He was a pioneer and a great leader whom history will record his name in letters of gold .

Almost two months ago I began a longe thread in the Arab newsgroups with an article called "Peace is for the Brave" in which I praised those who continued the struggle to bring peace in the Middle East. In that article, I said the brave included :President Clinton, President Mubark, Isaac Rabin the Israeli PM , King Hussein of Jordan , and President Yasser Arafat .

While I wrote Peace for the Brave I was remembering the words of the Israeli leader Isaac Rabin:

Enough Tears

Enough Blood

There is time for war

There is time for Peace

The time for peace has come.

And on Saturday 4th of November 1995, PM Isaac Rabin was attending the largest Rally of Peace in Israeli history, repeating the same words. he was assassinated by a coward who represented the minority forces of evil and destruction which want to hijack the overwhelming will of the Peoples of the Middle East to go ahead with the peace process.

Rabin has gave his life for peace and his last function was attending the largest peace rally in Israel.

The death of Sadat and the death of Rabin has proven beyond any doubt that terrorism is in the Middle East is not an Arab, an Palestinian or Jewish problem but it is a common problem which aims to destroy the peace process, and bring the area into the dark ages .

The Rally of Peace in which Mr Rabin was assassinated has proven beyond any doubt that the forces of peace are greater than those cowards who hide in the dark and whose aim is to derail the peace process .

It is time now to deprive the cowards who represent the forces of dark , fanaticism , hatred , ultra- fanaticism , fundamentalism from having any upper hand in the Middle East , and this will be the best way to remember the brave martyrs of peace who said enough for tears and enough for blood.

On the night Rabin died Karen Alkalay-Gut

On the night Rabin died I dreamt I wandered the streets homeless and lonely in a crowd of confusion, ricocheting off relatives and friends barely regarded, while dogs of peace ran with panthers and tigers all loose and all free.

No one was working -- everyone out on the streets or in groups sleeping in different houses, using interchangeably each others' phones -- connecting with wrong numbers saying a few impotent words, disconnecting indifferently

Unseasonable cold penetrated my clothes, and uncoated I sought shelter in cloaks of the dead, but found myself in other byways before I could wrap myself in them

The river was solid and the earth liquid under our feet -- the worst walked on water while the best fell in the treacherous sands.

Nothing held the dream together and everything could fall apart at any random moment

Margo Power

We are so close to other countries now that the assination of a world leader is almost like losing one of our own. I remember how empty and lost I felt when Kennedy was killed. I feel a degree of that now over Rabin. I empathize with the people of Isreal for their loss. I empathize even more with you as an individual. I'm so sorry.

Stu Shiffman and Andi Shechter

I don't know you well enough and I sure don't know your politics, and it's not easy to come up with something to say, but the news about the assassination has been devastating, here in Seattle as it has been anywhere else.

I keep bursting into tears - which is sort of a ridiculous reaction, but aw, hell, anyone who worked so hard for peace in our world anywhere. So I find myself wanting to send condolences or whatever or just to say that Israel's loss is the world's loss and hope my thoughts are taken in the spirit they're intended.

Farhad Abdolian

I heard the news about the assasination of Ishak Rabin yesterday, I extend my condolences to you and all the Israeli people.

The paradox of this tragedy is that he was murdered after a peace demonstration, which shows that the assassin, and his "friends" kill him because of his role as the messanger of peace, the one who was tired of being in war and see his countrymen die.

I truly wish to see the success of the peace process which is the only way to stop terrorists and murderers from both sides.

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