Speaking at the Knesset’s memorial service for Yitzhak Rabin today, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin each lashed out against the use of Rabin’s murder as a political bludgeon.
MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz), who spoke as well, insisted that Rabin and his legacy were inherently political. “Yitzhak Rabin was not Mother Theresa, Yitzhak Rabin was not holy. Yitzhak was a political man,” said Sarid.
PM Sharon asserted that everybody was able to use Rabin to further their own politics. "It's worthwhile to refrain from the manipulation of memory," said Sharon. He quoted remarks Rabin made that are not typically associated with the left-wing - such as his opposition to the division of Jerusalem and the inclusion of the suburbs of Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev, which are located outside Jerusalem’s pre-’67 borders.
Knesset Speaker Rivlin said the government must do all it can to protect free speech and democracy, and not silence political opponents by making claims of incitement. "We must be very careful about silencing people using the buzz-word 'incitement,'" said Rivlin. He refused a request by Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff to tone down his speech.
MK Shaul Yahalom (NRP) said the left made a big mistake in making the anniversary of Rabin's death a time of divisive politics rather than a day of unity, and said identifying Rabin with the Oslo Accords alienated the right.
"You're using the memory of Rabin to deepen the divide... to add disagreement and hatred of our brothers," said Yahalom, adding that the left constantly equates Rabin with Oslo. "How can you expect that those who think that Oslo brought a disaster upon us to identify and to mourn?" he asked.
People on the right talk about the ‘crimes of Oslo’ and the ‘Oslo criminals,’ said Sarid. "It must be clear that Rabin was and remains the most prominent of these 'criminals.'"
A November 6th, 2002 Jerusalem Post article reported a speech by noted Holocaust scholar Eli Wiesel painted a different picture. Two weeks before his assassination, Rabin met with Wiesel in New York to discuss the Jewish federations' upcoming annual General Assembly. During the conversation, Rabin told Wiesel that he had come to the conclusion that the decision to bring Arafat back from Tunis under the Oslo Accords had been a mistake.
" 'For a time I thought he was the solution. Now I know he's the problem,'" Wiesel said Rabin told him. "He said, 'I can't work with him. He's corrupt.'"
Similar questions were address and attempts to piece the evidence together were made at the Fourth Jerusalem Conference on the Rabin Assassination, held at the Windmill Hotel today. Many speakers questioned the official version of the Rabin Assassination and called for an open investigation into the actions of the GSS before and after the murder.
Rabin's own family has expressed public dismay with the official version of the murder. His late wife Leah, his son Yuval and his daughter Dalia have all expressed their skepticism on separate occasions.
Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff, Yitzhak Rabin's daughter, gave and interview to the Hebrew magazine Olam Ha'Isha (Woman's World) issue 193 in November of 1999:
Sarit Yishai-Levi was the interviewer.
RABIN-PELOSOFF: Each of, all of us together, are consumed by doubts regarding how it happened and what happened. This is the most difficult.
YISHAI-LEVI: What doubts?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: This is very complex, and I am not certain that I want to get into this. I don't want to make accusations, as long as I do not have solid proof. I don't want to get involved in slander trials. But we all have the feeling that the entire episode was finished with the conclusion that the assassination was a fiasco. This is too simplistic. There are very many question marks regarding the night of the murder.
YISHAI-LEVI: Question marks regarding the conduct of the Shabak (GSS - General Security Services)?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: I am not saying, and I am not pointing an accusing finger in any direction, but many unanswered question marks remain.
YISHAI-LEVI: Such as?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: Well, someone shouted, 'This is a blank', and there is no answer, who shouted. And the Shamgar Commission did not determine who was the person who shouted that this was a blank cartridge.
YISHAI-LEVI: Where does this confidence that someone shouted, 'This is a blank' come from? Perhaps this is a rumor?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: My mother [Mrs. Leah Rabin] heard positively. She rang me at home immediately after this happened and she told me. "They shot [at] Father, but this is not real". I will never forget the telephone conversation with her. Mother felt that nothing had happened, that this was not real, that everything was all right, that Father was all right.
YISHAI-LEVI: Perhaps she expressed her wish?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: Perhaps. But there were other people in addition who heard. When the security people drove her in a different automobile to the hospital, they told her that this was not real. And when she asked questions, they were silent and did not answer a single question of hers.
There are very many question marks around everything that happened immediately after the assassination. How was it that in the automobile that drove Mother, the security people did not speak with anyone the entire way? Why didn't they let Mother drive with Father? Why did they separate them and take her in a separate automobile?
I am throwing out to you question marks that trouble me every day. Why did they take Mother from the place of the assassination? Why did they want to hustle her away from the scene of the event as fast as possible? Why did they tell her that this was an exercise? What exercise? And what happened to the so-essential instincts of every security person? Why didn't they immediately kill the assassin? How did it happen that they did not shoot him?
Look what happened now with Mubarak -- how was it that the people who were entrusted with guarding my father did not instinctively shoot the one who shot him, [and] kill him?
I am saying that this is certainly similar to what the members of the Kennedy family felt after John Kennedy was assassinated. To this day there is no explanation for the question -- who was behind the assassination of Kennedy? To this day there is no explanation for who was behind the assassination of my father. Then, they accused Oswald, who was immediately murdered. By us, they accuse Yigal Amir. But this is not so simple. This is much deeper, and much more complex.
YISHAI-LEVI: And whom do you suspect?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: Whom I suspect, I won't say. I simply am raising before you all these doubts that have been harbored in my mind and in those of the family since the assassination. Sometimes I go so far as to have the harshest thoughts. I know that we in the family will find no rest until we
will know the truth.
YISHAI-LEVI: And this harbors in your mind all the time? You are occupied with suspicions, with doubts?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: This comes in waves. There was a period when Channel Two, with the reporter Matti Cohen, prepared a serious investigative report. They sat with me and told me about their findings, and this greatly troubled me. Unfortunately, they have done nothing with this investigative reporting until now.
And when I hear that a person like Avigdor Eskin, whom I have been closely following ever since the assassination, was run by the G.S.S. (General Security Services), this arouses in me thoughts and wondering, and things arise. Such things arouse the doubt in me again and again.
I am exposed to this all the time. Not long ago in the Knesset I met a person who brought me a suitcase packed with documents full of doubts and question marks. This person has been engaged in the investigation of the assassination since it happened. And every time, from anew, I reach the conclusion that perhaps there is no chance of reaching the truth, and I leave this alone. And then, through someone else who is no less troubled by this than the members of the family, this is awakened from anew. This bothers me greatly.
One of my ways of handling this was to go and work in the Histadrut, to go to the Knesset, to involve myself in public work. But this still does not help. The doubt harbors in the mind. Question marks arise all the time. Such as, for example, the inconsistency between the report of the doctor who received Father when he arrived at Ichilov [Hospital] and the pathology report. This does not let me alone. The feeling of frustration is very, very difficult.
"Someone shouted, 'This is a blank', and there is no answer as to who shouted.... My mother rang me at home immediately after it happened and told me, 'They shot Abba [Father], but it's not for real'....When the security people drove her in a different automobile to the hospital, they told her that it wasn't real. And when she asked questions, they were silent and did not answer a single question of hers... There are very many question marks around everything that happened immediately after the assassination. How was it that in the car that drove Imma, the security people did not speak with anyone the entire way? Why didn't they let Imma drive with Abba? Why did they separate them and take her in a separate car? ...
"Why did they take Imma from the place of the assassination? Why did they want to hustle her away from the scene of the event as fast as possible? Why did they tell her that this was an exercise? What exercise? And what happened to the so-essential instincts of every security person? Why didn't they immediately kill the assassin? How did it happen that they didn't
shoot him? ...
"They accuse Yigal Amir. But it is not so simple. It is much deeper, and much more complex... I know that we in the family will find no rest until we will know the truth... [Also] for example, the inconsistency between the report of the doctor who received Abba when he arrived at Ichilov [Hospital] and the pathology report. This does not leave me. The feeling of frustration is very, very difficult..."
MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz), who spoke as well, insisted that Rabin and his legacy were inherently political. “Yitzhak Rabin was not Mother Theresa, Yitzhak Rabin was not holy. Yitzhak was a political man,” said Sarid.
PM Sharon asserted that everybody was able to use Rabin to further their own politics. "It's worthwhile to refrain from the manipulation of memory," said Sharon. He quoted remarks Rabin made that are not typically associated with the left-wing - such as his opposition to the division of Jerusalem and the inclusion of the suburbs of Ma'ale Adumim and Givat Ze'ev, which are located outside Jerusalem’s pre-’67 borders.
Knesset Speaker Rivlin said the government must do all it can to protect free speech and democracy, and not silence political opponents by making claims of incitement. "We must be very careful about silencing people using the buzz-word 'incitement,'" said Rivlin. He refused a request by Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff to tone down his speech.
MK Shaul Yahalom (NRP) said the left made a big mistake in making the anniversary of Rabin's death a time of divisive politics rather than a day of unity, and said identifying Rabin with the Oslo Accords alienated the right.
"You're using the memory of Rabin to deepen the divide... to add disagreement and hatred of our brothers," said Yahalom, adding that the left constantly equates Rabin with Oslo. "How can you expect that those who think that Oslo brought a disaster upon us to identify and to mourn?" he asked.
People on the right talk about the ‘crimes of Oslo’ and the ‘Oslo criminals,’ said Sarid. "It must be clear that Rabin was and remains the most prominent of these 'criminals.'"
A November 6th, 2002 Jerusalem Post article reported a speech by noted Holocaust scholar Eli Wiesel painted a different picture. Two weeks before his assassination, Rabin met with Wiesel in New York to discuss the Jewish federations' upcoming annual General Assembly. During the conversation, Rabin told Wiesel that he had come to the conclusion that the decision to bring Arafat back from Tunis under the Oslo Accords had been a mistake.
" 'For a time I thought he was the solution. Now I know he's the problem,'" Wiesel said Rabin told him. "He said, 'I can't work with him. He's corrupt.'"
Similar questions were address and attempts to piece the evidence together were made at the Fourth Jerusalem Conference on the Rabin Assassination, held at the Windmill Hotel today. Many speakers questioned the official version of the Rabin Assassination and called for an open investigation into the actions of the GSS before and after the murder.
Rabin's own family has expressed public dismay with the official version of the murder. His late wife Leah, his son Yuval and his daughter Dalia have all expressed their skepticism on separate occasions.
Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff, Yitzhak Rabin's daughter, gave and interview to the Hebrew magazine Olam Ha'Isha (Woman's World) issue 193 in November of 1999:
Sarit Yishai-Levi was the interviewer.
RABIN-PELOSOFF: Each of, all of us together, are consumed by doubts regarding how it happened and what happened. This is the most difficult.
YISHAI-LEVI: What doubts?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: This is very complex, and I am not certain that I want to get into this. I don't want to make accusations, as long as I do not have solid proof. I don't want to get involved in slander trials. But we all have the feeling that the entire episode was finished with the conclusion that the assassination was a fiasco. This is too simplistic. There are very many question marks regarding the night of the murder.
YISHAI-LEVI: Question marks regarding the conduct of the Shabak (GSS - General Security Services)?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: I am not saying, and I am not pointing an accusing finger in any direction, but many unanswered question marks remain.
YISHAI-LEVI: Such as?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: Well, someone shouted, 'This is a blank', and there is no answer, who shouted. And the Shamgar Commission did not determine who was the person who shouted that this was a blank cartridge.
YISHAI-LEVI: Where does this confidence that someone shouted, 'This is a blank' come from? Perhaps this is a rumor?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: My mother [Mrs. Leah Rabin] heard positively. She rang me at home immediately after this happened and she told me. "They shot [at] Father, but this is not real". I will never forget the telephone conversation with her. Mother felt that nothing had happened, that this was not real, that everything was all right, that Father was all right.
YISHAI-LEVI: Perhaps she expressed her wish?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: Perhaps. But there were other people in addition who heard. When the security people drove her in a different automobile to the hospital, they told her that this was not real. And when she asked questions, they were silent and did not answer a single question of hers.
There are very many question marks around everything that happened immediately after the assassination. How was it that in the automobile that drove Mother, the security people did not speak with anyone the entire way? Why didn't they let Mother drive with Father? Why did they separate them and take her in a separate automobile?
I am throwing out to you question marks that trouble me every day. Why did they take Mother from the place of the assassination? Why did they want to hustle her away from the scene of the event as fast as possible? Why did they tell her that this was an exercise? What exercise? And what happened to the so-essential instincts of every security person? Why didn't they immediately kill the assassin? How did it happen that they did not shoot him?
Look what happened now with Mubarak -- how was it that the people who were entrusted with guarding my father did not instinctively shoot the one who shot him, [and] kill him?
I am saying that this is certainly similar to what the members of the Kennedy family felt after John Kennedy was assassinated. To this day there is no explanation for the question -- who was behind the assassination of Kennedy? To this day there is no explanation for who was behind the assassination of my father. Then, they accused Oswald, who was immediately murdered. By us, they accuse Yigal Amir. But this is not so simple. This is much deeper, and much more complex.
YISHAI-LEVI: And whom do you suspect?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: Whom I suspect, I won't say. I simply am raising before you all these doubts that have been harbored in my mind and in those of the family since the assassination. Sometimes I go so far as to have the harshest thoughts. I know that we in the family will find no rest until we
will know the truth.
YISHAI-LEVI: And this harbors in your mind all the time? You are occupied with suspicions, with doubts?
RABIN-PELOSOFF: This comes in waves. There was a period when Channel Two, with the reporter Matti Cohen, prepared a serious investigative report. They sat with me and told me about their findings, and this greatly troubled me. Unfortunately, they have done nothing with this investigative reporting until now.
And when I hear that a person like Avigdor Eskin, whom I have been closely following ever since the assassination, was run by the G.S.S. (General Security Services), this arouses in me thoughts and wondering, and things arise. Such things arouse the doubt in me again and again.
I am exposed to this all the time. Not long ago in the Knesset I met a person who brought me a suitcase packed with documents full of doubts and question marks. This person has been engaged in the investigation of the assassination since it happened. And every time, from anew, I reach the conclusion that perhaps there is no chance of reaching the truth, and I leave this alone. And then, through someone else who is no less troubled by this than the members of the family, this is awakened from anew. This bothers me greatly.
One of my ways of handling this was to go and work in the Histadrut, to go to the Knesset, to involve myself in public work. But this still does not help. The doubt harbors in the mind. Question marks arise all the time. Such as, for example, the inconsistency between the report of the doctor who received Father when he arrived at Ichilov [Hospital] and the pathology report. This does not let me alone. The feeling of frustration is very, very difficult.
"Someone shouted, 'This is a blank', and there is no answer as to who shouted.... My mother rang me at home immediately after it happened and told me, 'They shot Abba [Father], but it's not for real'....When the security people drove her in a different automobile to the hospital, they told her that it wasn't real. And when she asked questions, they were silent and did not answer a single question of hers... There are very many question marks around everything that happened immediately after the assassination. How was it that in the car that drove Imma, the security people did not speak with anyone the entire way? Why didn't they let Imma drive with Abba? Why did they separate them and take her in a separate car? ...
"Why did they take Imma from the place of the assassination? Why did they want to hustle her away from the scene of the event as fast as possible? Why did they tell her that this was an exercise? What exercise? And what happened to the so-essential instincts of every security person? Why didn't they immediately kill the assassin? How did it happen that they didn't
shoot him? ...
"They accuse Yigal Amir. But it is not so simple. It is much deeper, and much more complex... I know that we in the family will find no rest until we will know the truth... [Also] for example, the inconsistency between the report of the doctor who received Abba when he arrived at Ichilov [Hospital] and the pathology report. This does not leave me. The feeling of frustration is very, very difficult..."