Knesset Holds Contentious Memorial Session On Anniversary of Rabin Assassination

By: Gil Tannenbaum

The Knesset held a special session this evening, Monday, in memory of the late Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, on the 26th anniversary of his assassination. Rabin’s assassination occurred on November 5, 1995, but today was its anniversary on the Hebrew calendar.

The speeches given by the Knesset leadership, however, were characterized by political attacks as much as they were dedicated to statesmanship and honoring the memory of the late prime minister.

The session at the Knesset came after the official state ceremony in memory of Rabin was held near his gravesite at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem. All of Israel’s leadership was in attendance, as well as many foreign dignitaries and ambassadors.

One notable absentee, however, was the leader of Israel’s opposition Binyamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu did attend the ceremony when he was the Prime Minister of Israel. But this year he declined to do so and did not give a reason.

Knesset Speaker Miki Levy opened the special meeting with a minute of silence in the Knesset. He was then the first speaker of the event saying, “The three shots fired at Kings of Israel Square on the fourth night of November 95 still resonate within the walls of this house and within Israeli society, even 26 years later.”

Speaker Levy called the assassination a traumatic event that left a permanent wound in the heart of Israeli democracy that has not healed. “The trauma and shock of that gloomy night have since been accompanied by every argument and controversy we have known,” added Levy.” Something in the innocence of political life in Israel broke that night and went on forever. Because since that night we know it could happen.”

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also spoke at the special Knesset plenum in memory of Yitzhak Rabin. “I hope that since the assassination,” he said, “we have learned how dangerous violence is must not silence whole publics in our society, we must not vilify an entire community because an individual within it committed a crime. Neither the right assassinated Rabin nor the religious. Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin.”

Bennett added that everyone must understand that, no matter sure one may be of the righteousness of his cause, there are lines one should never cross. He also said that people must learn how to manage the debate over their differences without it leading to what happened to Yitzhak Rabin.

  (TPS)