Yitzchak Rabin
Yitzchak RabinIsrael news photo: Flash-90

In honor of Rabin Memorial Day, activists arrived at several non-religious schools in Jerusalem and distributed flyers in memory of Rabin, but against his legacy.

The flyers explained that left-wing elements are taking advantage of the memory of Rabin and his murder to promote the Oslo process that, in actuality, “has been catastrophic for Israel.”

Addressed as a letter to each individual student, the flyer states: “Today, the 11th of Cheshvan, schools around the country are marking the memorial day for Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. Despite our principled stand against murder and intra-Jewish violence, it is clear to all that the message at memorials of this type is not one of remembering Rabin the individual, but rather his so-called ‘legacy’ …”

The letter notes that Rabin took part in the Altalena incident in 1948, dismissed beleaguered Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria and nationalists as “propellers,” was the first to give weapons to terrorists, abandoned parts of the Jewish homeland, and endangered Jewish lives.

“This is the legacy that brought Oslo upon us, including terrorism and attacks in the name of peace with our enemies! The ‘Rabin legacy’ has failed, and Rabin himself brought a calamity upon us! Therefore, with all due sorrow, we will not take part in the memorials for Rabin, and we will say clearly: No more thought police! No more trying to brainwash us! No more fairy tales about peace when our enemies want to throw us out of here and destroy us!”

The proponents of the “Rabin legacy” also often ignore that Rabin’s view of the future peace agreement was very different than that of most of the political Left today.  In his last Knesset speech before he was murdered, he made the following points clear:

  • He supported a “Palestinian entity… that is less than a state.”
  • The final borders of Israel under the permanent solution “will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War.”
  • “United Jerusalem… [including] both Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev... as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty.”
  • “The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”
  • “Changes which will include the addition of Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and other communities, most of which are in the area east of what was the 'Green Line' prior to the Six Day War."
  • Another envisioned change in the permanent solution is “The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.”
  • “We committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder construction for natural growth.”
  • “We are aware of the fact that the Palestinian Authority has not, up until now, honored its commitment to change the Palestinian Covenant, and that all of the promises on this matter have not been kept. … I view these changes as a supreme test of the Palestinian Authority's willingness and ability, and the changes required will be an important and serious touchstone vis-a-vis the continued implementation of the agreement as a whole.”
In contrast, President Shimon Peres, speaking at the opening memorial ceremony in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, repeatedly mentioned Rabin’s quest for general “peace” - without once mentioning the above points on which Rabin insisted but have since been conceded by various Israeli governments. Peres himself recently spoke of the importance of turning the Palestinian Authority into a full-fledged state.