Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin (/rəˈbiːn/;[1] Hebrew: יִצְחָק רַבִּין, IPA: [jitsˈχak ʁaˈbin] ⓘ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until his assassination in 1995.
For the Alpha Blondy album, see Yitzhak Rabin (album). For the two-part documentary film, see Yitzhak Rabin: A Biography.
Yitzhak Rabin
Shimon Peres (acting)
Defense
1 March 1922
Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine
4 November 1995 (aged 73)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Israeli
- Dalia Rabin-Pelossof
- Yuval Rabin
1941–1967
Rabin was born in Jerusalem to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and was raised in a Labor Zionist household. He learned agriculture in school and excelled as a student. He led a 27-year career as a soldier and ultimately attained the rank of Rav Aluf, the most senior rank in the Israeli Defense Force (often translated as lieutenant general). As a teenager he joined the Palmach, the commando force of the Yishuv. He eventually rose through its ranks to become its chief of operations during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He joined the newly formed Israel Defense Forces in late 1948 and continued to rise as a promising officer. He helped shape the training doctrine of the IDF in the early 1950s, and led the IDF's Operations Directorate from 1959 to 1963. He was appointed chief of the general staff in 1964 and oversaw Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Rabin served as Israel's ambassador to the United States from 1968 to 1973, during a period of deepening U.S.–Israel ties. He was appointed Prime Minister of Israel in 1974 after the resignation of Golda Meir. In his first term, Rabin signed the Sinai Interim Agreement and ordered the Entebbe raid. He resigned in 1977 in the wake of a financial scandal. Rabin was Israel's minister of defense for much of the 1980s, including during the outbreak of the First Intifada.
In 1992, Rabin was re-elected as prime minister on a platform embracing the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. He signed several historic agreements with the Palestinian leadership as part of the Oslo Accords. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with long-time political rival Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Rabin also signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994. In November 1995, he was assassinated by an extremist named Yigal Amir, who opposed the terms of the Oslo Accords. Amir was convicted of Rabin's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Rabin was the first native-born prime minister of Israel, the only prime minister to be assassinated, and the second to die in office after Levi Eshkol. Rabin has become a symbol of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.
Ambassador to the United States (1968–1973)
Following his retirement from the IDF he became ambassador to the United States beginning in 1968, serving for five years. In this period the US became the major weapon supplier of Israel and in particular he managed to get the embargo on the F-4 Phantom fighter jets lifted. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War he served in no official capacity.
Minister of Labour
In the elections held at the end of 1973, Rabin was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Alignment. He was appointed Israeli Minister of Labour in March 1974 in the short-lived Golda Meir-led 16th government.[26]
Opposition Knesset member (1977–1984)
Following Labour Party's defeat in the 1977 election, Likud's Menachem Begin became prime minister, and Labor (which was part of the Alignment alliance) entered the opposition. Until 1984 Rabin, as a member of Knesset, sat on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.[36]
Rabin unsuccessfully challenged Shimon Peres for Israeli Labor Party leadership in the 1980 Israeli Labor Party leadership election.[31]
Minister of Defense (1984–1990)
From 1984 until 1990, Labor was in government as part of the coalitions which formed the 21st and 22nd governments during the 11th Knesset and the 23rd government during the first portion of the 10th Knesset.
From 1984 to 1990, Rabin served as Minister of Defense in several national unity governments led by prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres. When Rabin came to office, Israeli troops were still deep in Lebanon. Rabin ordered their withdrawal to a "Security Zone" on the Lebanese side of the border. The South Lebanon Army was active in this zone, along with the Israeli Defence Forces.
On 4 August 1985 Minister of Defence Rabin introduced an Iron Fist policy in the West Bank, reviving the use of British Mandate era legislation to detain people without trial, demolish houses, close newspapers and institutions as well as deporting activists. The change in policy came after a sustained public campaign demanding a tougher policy following the May 1985 prisoner exchange in which 1,150 Palestinians had been released.[37]
When the first Intifada broke out, Rabin adopted harsh measures to stop the violent riots, even authorizing the use of "Force, might and beatings," on the rioters.[38][39] The derogative term the "bone breaker" was used as a critical International slogan.[40] The combination of the failure of the "Iron Fist" policy, Israel's deteriorating international image, and Jordan cutting legal and administrative ties to the West Bank with the U.S.'s recognition of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people forced Rabin to seek an end to the violence through negotiation and dialogue with the PLO.[40][41]
In 1988 Rabin was responsible for the assassination of Abu Jihad in Tunis and two weeks later he personally supervised the destruction of the Hizbullah stronghold in Meidoun during Operation Law and Order, in which the IDF claimed 40–50 Hizbullah fighters were killed. Three Israeli soldiers were killed and seventeen wounded.[42][43]
Minister of Defence Rabin planned and executed the 27 July 1989 abduction of the Hizbullah leader Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid and two of his aides from Jibchit in South Lebanon. Hizbullah responded by announcing the execution of Colonel Higgins, a senior American officer working with UNIFIL who had been kidnapped in February 1988.[44][45]
Monument marking the site of the assassination: Ibn Gabirol Street between Tel Aviv City Hall and Gan Ha'ir
On the evening of 4 November 1995 (12th of Heshvan on the Hebrew calendar),[66] Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a law student and right-wing extremist who opposed the signing of the Oslo Accords. Rabin had been attending a mass rally at the Kings of Israel Square (now Rabin Square) in Tel Aviv, held in support of the Oslo Accords. When the rally ended, Rabin walked down the city hall steps towards the open door of his car, at which point Amir fired three shots at Rabin with a semi-automatic pistol. Two shots hit Rabin, and the third lightly injured Yoram Rubin, one of Rabin's bodyguards. Rabin was taken to the nearby Ichilov Hospital, where he died on the operating table of blood loss and two punctured lungs. Amir was immediately seized by Rabin's bodyguards and police. He was later tried, found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment. After an emergency cabinet meeting, Israel's foreign minister, Shimon Peres, was appointed as acting Israeli prime minister.[67]
Rabin's assassination shocked the Israeli public and much of the rest of the world. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis gathered at the square where Rabin was assassinated to mourn his death. Young people, in particular, turned out in large numbers, lighting memorial candles and singing peace songs. On 6 November 1995, he was buried on Mount Herzl. Rabin's funeral was attended by many world leaders, among them U.S. president Bill Clinton, Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and King Hussein of Jordan. Clinton delivered a eulogy whose final words were in Hebrew – "Shalom, haver" (Hebrew: שלום חבר, lit. Goodbye, friend).[68][69]
The square where he was assassinated, Kikar Malkhei Yisrael (Kings of Israel Square), was renamed Rabin Square in his honor. Many other streets and public institutions in Israel have also subsequently been named after him. After his assassination, Rabin was hailed as a national symbol and came to embody the ethos of the "Israeli peace camp," despite his military career and hawkish views earlier in life.[70] In November 2000, his wife Leah died and was buried alongside him.
After the murder, it was revealed that Avishai Raviv, a well-known right-wing extremist at the time, was a Shin Bet agent-informer codenamed Champagne. Raviv was later acquitted in court of charges that he failed to prevent the assassination. The court ruled there was no evidence that Raviv knew Amir was plotting to kill Rabin.[71] After Rabin's assassination, his daughter Dalia Rabin-Pelossof entered politics and was elected to the Knesset in 1999 as part of the Center Party. In 2001, she served as Israel's deputy minister of defense.[72]