Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot dead 30 years ago today. Over 100,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv to honor the memory of a politician who sought dialogue with the Palestinians.
ARD.
This happened immediately after Rabin declared that the path of peace with the Palestinians was preferable to war, Yossi Beilin, then deputy foreign minister and Rabin's ally, told ARD.
"We cried like little children"
"Rabin was afraid that people wouldn't come. It was as if it had been yesterday," says Beilin. "He didn't want to die in the name of peace, but he probably knew that this was the price you pay when you change the fate of your country for the better."
Beilin is considered the architect of the Oslo peace accords, which Rabin supported, the German public media noted. In the name of these agreements, Rabin even shook hands with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat in the White House, he recalls ARD.
Beilin recalls being with a friend in New York when he learned of Rabin's death. "We stood up, hugged him and cried like little children. Without Rabin, the whole peace process with the Palestinians would not have happened," he says.
Netanyahu remains Rabin's opponent today
Thirty years later, more than 100,000 people gathered in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv to honor Rabin. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was Rabin's opponent at the time, never showed up. Opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the current government for justifying violence in the name of Jews.
Merav Ben Ami told ARD that her husband was among the police officers who escorted Rabin to the hospital after the shootings. "It's sad - everything that was there before remains here. Society is divided, violence continues. But if we don't hope for change, we won't have anything worth living for. That's why I've been taking to the streets for two years - since the war began. And even though the hostages were returned to Israel, we will continue to protest," the woman says.
"We won't forget, we won't forgive"
"When Rabin died, it seemed like the end of the world," recalls Joshua Amishav, who at the time stood just a few meters from where the assassin shot the former prime minister. Today, Joshua holds a sign that reads: "We won't forget, we won't forgive". The sign has a picture of Rabin, but also one of Netanyahu, who once stirred up people's sentiments against Rabin's policies.
“This is the same Netanyahu who brought the events of October 7 to Israel, who did the exact opposite of Rabin“, says Amishav. “Rabin was killed on the path to peace. And Netanyahu was providing financial support to Hamas in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority. He destroyed any chance of peace and paved the way for an endless war“, says the Israeli.
A lot of criticism of Netanyahu
Many of those participating in the commemoration accuse Netanyahu of failing during the Hamas attack of October 7 and of doing nothing to end the war. Rabin's associate Yossi Beilin still advocates dialogue with the Palestinians today, supports the two-state solution. But he noted to ARD that there is a lack of individuals who can make it happen.
“Rabin was a soldier, he was not a friendly person, he was strange, but not a warmonger. He did not see himself as a peace activist, but as “Mr. Security“. For him, peace and security went hand in hand“, says Beilin. “Today we need someone like Rabin - a man who puts the interests of the country above his own. But we don't have one. Rabin was that.“