Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day
Yesterday it was Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Day, which is a day to remember the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. It occurred in 1995 (hard to believe it was that long ago). We in America remember that day but now for most of us in America is it just something bad that happened a long time ago. Here in Israel it is remembered year after year. It really seems to have affected the country. All of the kids had ceremonies in school and we also had a special ceremony in Ulpan. And there was an official government ceremony as well.
Its a tough day here in Israel because like a lot of things which should not be, it has become politicized somewhat. Rabin was murdered by a Jewish right wing extremist. The Israeli Left feels that the Israeli Right may have been complicit in the murder by not doing enough to call out its own extremism. And the Israeli Right feels that the Israeli Left has used the murder for political ends to smear the entire Israeli Right.
As much as we would like to avoid the politicisation of this national tragedy, the reality is that the murder itself was politically motivated. Nevertheless, and irrespective of one’s opinion of the Oslo peace process either back then or even now with the hindsight of the passage of time, we can and should agree that some acts, such as violence and murder, are simply intolerable – on moral grounds and on democratic grounds. On left wing grounds and on right wing grounds. On secular grounds and on religious grounds.
