Friend --
Twenty-five years ago, the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish right-wing extremist sent shockwaves around the world, devastating the growing movement for peace in Israel.
To commemorate both this tragedy and the historic impact and legacy of Rabin, I’m honored that J Street will host a special J Stream event on Wednesday, October 28, including introductory remarks from his son Yuval Rabin.
Please join us, alongside Peace Now Executive Director Shaqued Morag and the Meorer Center’s Yuval Hod, as we examine how this traumatic moment impacted Israeli society, the peace movement and the course of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Yitzhak Rabin Commemoration
Wednesday, October 28 | 2pm Eastern
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Friend, like many leaders whose actions have helped to shape history, Prime Minister Rabin left us with a complex legacy.
As a military leader through the War of Independence, Nobel Peace Prize winner and two-term Prime Minister, he is revered as a hero and a patriot by millions of Israelis and diaspora Jews alike. As a senior IDF commander, defense minister and prime minister who was directly involved in every Israeli-Arab conflict from 1948 on, and who helped lead the suppression of the First Intifada, he is understandably viewed very differently by many Palestinians.
Despite his past as a sometimes fierce adversary, Prime Minister Rabin broke new ground in Israeli politics by enlisting the support of Palestinian members of the Knesset to form a government that could pursue genuine diplomacy with Israel’s neighbors. Entering into negotiations with the PLO, he showed himself to be a man who knew the high price of conflict first-hand, and who decided that rather than try to win an endless string of battles, he would work to end the ongoing conflict.
That is the reason he was killed by a far-right extremist, in what has sadly proven to be one of the most effective assassinations in history. In governments since, such personal and political courage has been conspicuously absent, to the detriment of all who care about peace and justice in the region.
Today, we must remember that it is within our power to fight back against those who incited violence against Rabin and who continue to choose conflict and destruction over peace-building and compromise.
As you can see, there is much to discuss. Please join us for what promises to be a meaningful and compelling J Stream event.
Thank you,
Jeremy Ben-Ami
President, J Street
