Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke at the memorial ceremony for slain Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin on Saturday night and warned that “extremists” were plotting another assassination. “We once called them 'stray weeds'--now they're nothing less than cancerous growths,” he said. “Yitzchak,” he addressed Rabin, “we promise you that we will remove this evil from our midst.”
Barak also warned that “extremists” threaten “democracy, the rule of law, the IDF, the police and all the authorities that serve a normal society.” Barak has made several statements warning of alleged dangers from “right-wing extremists” in recent weeks, and has proposed that the state combat the threat by using administrative orders to detain Jewish protesters from Judea and Samaria without a warrant, and by using an “iron fist” against nationalists who fight with police.