From the Archives 1995 Death of a peacemaker

By Ross Dunn November 4, 2021 â€" 12.00am

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on November 6, 1995

JERUSALEM, Sunday: Israeli leaders warned Jewish right-wingers today that the assassination of the Prime Minister, Mr Rabin, would not stop the peace process with the Palestinians.

The coffin of late Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin lays in Jerusalem’s Herzl Cemetery Monday, November 6, 1995 in front of world leaders including (from left to right) Spain’s Felipe Gonzalez, France’s Jacques Chirac, Britain’s John Major, Britain’s Prince Charles, Germany’s Helmut Kohl and Roman Herzog, U.N Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian President Hosni Murbarak, Hilary Clinton, President Clinton, Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, Dutch Queen Beatrix and Israel’s Shimon Peres. Credit:Michel Lipchitz

Mr Rabin, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing his nation closer to peace with the Arabs, died last night (early Sunday morning, Sydney time) after being shot three times with a pistol at point blank range by a Jewish gunman at a Government rally in Tel Aviv.

The assassin, Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old law student, told police he acted alone, did not belong to any extremist organisation and had “received instructions from God to kill Prime Minister Rabin”.

“I acted alone on God’s orders, and I have no regrets,” he told investigators.

Amir had said that he also intended to kill the Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, who was at the rally with Mr Rabin. Mr Peres has been sworn in as Acting Prime Minister.

Mr Rabin was shot just minutes after telling supporters that most Israelis were ready to take risks for peace, and joining in the singing of Song of Peace. One of the bullets ripped through a copy of the words of the song he had placed in his pocket, and the paper became soaked in blood.

Some of Mr Rabin’s last words were: “I believe there is now a chance for peace, a great chance, and we must take advantage of it ... I have always believed that the majority of people want peace, and are ready to take a chance for peace.”

The Prime Minister, Mr Keating, flew out tonight to join dozens of other world leaders attending Mr Rabin’s funeral in Jerusalem tomorrow. He told a press conference: “It’s a personal tragedy that the world has lost him and a tragedy for Israel that he’s been taken away.”

The shooting ended the career of one of Israel’s most illustrious politicians, a soldier turned peacemaker.

As a military commander, Mr Rabin led his country to victory in the 1967 Six Day War against the Arab world, and as a politician he will perhaps be best remembered for his handshake with the Palestine Liberation Organisation leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, at the signing of the 1993 peace agreement at the White House.

President Bill Clinton, centre, looks on as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat shake hands in the East Room of the White House after signing the Mideast accord in Washington on Sept. 28, 1995.Credit:Doug Moss

Mr Rabin, 73, was the first Israeli leader to have been assassinated since the founding of the Jewish State in 1948, and the shooting is expected to lead to a crackdown against right-wing Jewish extremists opposed to the peace process with the Palestinians.

Just minutes before the gunman opened fire, Mr Rabin and Mr Peres had stood before the peace rally hugging one another. “You see, things not only change in the Middle East - also for us,” Mr Rabin had said, and Mr Peres, who struggled against him for the prime ministership for decades, added: “We are hugging for peace.”

After the shooting, Mr Peres, who struggled to hold back tears, pledged that the peace process would be continued in honour of Mr Rabin.

“The (sound of Mr Rabin singing Song of Peace) ringing in our ears will not end,” he said. “I’m sure that the real wish at the last minute of his life was that the peace process will continue.”

The assassination of Mr Rabin, who was also Defence Minister, came at a critical time in the peace process with the Palestinians.

Israeli troops had only just begun redeploying away from major Arab towns to prepare the way for the transfer of limited self-rule to more than one million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.

Mr Peres, 73, who shared last year’s Nobel Peace Prize with Mr Rabin and Mr Arafat, said this process would not be halted. “There is nothing else we can do but to continue a great road paved by a great leader.”

World leaders, including President Clinton, condemned the assassination, and expressed the hope that Mr Rabin’s struggle to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East had not been in vain.

Mr Clinton, who will attend the funeral, said: “The world has lost one its greatest men, a warrior for this nation’s freedom, and now a martyr for his nation’s peace.

“Yitzhak Rabin was my partner, my friend. I admired him, and I loved him very much. Because words cannot express my true feelings, let me just say, ‘Shalom ... goodbye, friend’.”

A shocked and emotional Mr Arafat expressed his hope that the killing would not be allowed to hinder the peace process.

“I am very sad, and very shocked for this awful and terrible crime against one of the brave leaders of Israel, and the peacemakers,” he said.

“I hope that they will have the ability, all of us, the Israelis and the Palestinians, will have the ability to overcome this tragedy against the peace process, and against the whole situation in the Middle East.”

Mr Arafat will not attend the funeral for security reasons.

Leaders of Islamic extremist groups opposed to Mr Arafat’s peace deal with the Israelis said they were happy that Mr Rabin had been murdered.

Mr Mohammed Zahar, a Hamas leader, said: “I’m joyful because he was punished. Rabin filled Israeli jails with Palestinians ... he practised all forms of violence against us. Am I happy? Of course I am.”

Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have taken responsibility for the wave of suicide bus bombing attacks in the past year, which have killed more than 100 Israeli citizens.

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