As the Knesset met in a special Thursday session to remember the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the nation's political leadership searched for lessons learned in the ensuing 14 years regarding the nature of Israeli society, and expressed hope that those lessons could help Israel confront the challenges in its future.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin opened the session with compliment for his former political adversary, saying that those who knew Rabin personally missed his honesty and directness, and his emphasis on weighing each argument.
Rivlin said the impact of the killing had "finally trickled down through the deep channels of society and has finally influenced all of society's parts. Suddenly so many of us understand how deep a cleavage was left in each and every one of us by the murder."
Finally, he added, "even those who believed that Oslo was a tragedy" could allow themselves to mourn and be horrified by Rabin's murder.
Rivlin did, however, lash out at the fact that "all of the critics of the real Yitzhak Rabin, we were all labeled as accomplices to the murder, as responsible for its occurrence. And here, only a few years have passed and the most emphatic accusers have turned into the best friends of those accused."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, one of Rabin's chief adversaries during the Oslo process, said during his speech on Thursday, "In my eyes, the secret of his magic was that he was - above all - an Israeli patriot."
President Shimon Peres speaks during a memorial ceremony marking the 14th anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, at Mt. Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, Thursday.
Photo: AP
"Even in times of disagreement," continued the prime minister, "I acquired a deep respect for him. I knew that even when we did not see things eye-to-eye, his considerations and his decisions were according to a deep, internal examination of what he believed was good for the country."
Netanyahu, too, included a word of criticism and warning in his speech, toward "a few still among us who are not willing to accept democratic decisions and are not ready to accept the supremacy of the law."
He hinted at future concessions, saying that "we will act according to Rabin's guidelines: to do what is good for our people. And I carry in my heart a prayer that in the great choices that are before us, fateful decisions, were will always respect one another and also the country's laws."
Opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni echoed her rival's words when she said that "the clear moral, about which there is no argument, is that we can disagree with one another, but never can silence the other, certainly not eternally, with a pistol shot... We need to think today as well, what was and still is legitimate in an argument, and where does the slippery slope begin, so that we know where to stop."
Earlier in the day, the annual service commemorating Rabin's assassination was held on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl, attended by President Shimon Peres, Netanyahu, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and other dignitaries, MKs and family members.
Opening the ceremony, Peres said that Rabin was "impressive both in uniting the country during times of war, and on the path of peace."
"In peace as in war, Yitzhak looked for truth, he didn't seek fake prestige. He didn't hide facts, he didn't lie, and he didn't give up. He knew that military victory is not the aim of war, but rather leverage to achieve real goals. He knew not to succumb to external pressure," the president went on. "Yitzhak knew that there are no wars without bloodshed."
"I am proud of what we achieved under Yitzhak's leadership, of our combined journey… I am proud of the negotiations that were opened, which made the majority of Palestinians move from terror to diplomacy," the president went on. "Without this, all Palestinians would be Hamas. I am proud that we achieved peace with Jordan."
Speaking after Peres, Netanyahu referred to Rabin's military career, and his term as IDF Chief of Staff under former prime minister Levi Eshkol.
Netanyahu said Rabin was "a symbol of the integrity of Israel's fighters."
He decried political extremism, saying, "We are a nation which remembers, but we're not inclined to remember the details of arguments. What we will engrave in our memories is the uncompromising courage of the argument, the 'I and I alone' approach."
"When people are convinced that only their point of view can save the nation, and that any other opinion will destroy it, they are the source of destruction," he added.
On Thursday morning, the slain prime minister's daughter, Dalia Rabin warned that violent crimes in recent months were proof that Israeli society had failed to draw the necessary conclusion's from the her father's assassination.
"We haven't exactly been soul-searching and contemplating how harmful violence is to democracy ... we continue to be plagued with violence," she told Army Radio.
MK Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi), meanwhile, urged that politics be put aside during the memorial day marking the anniversary of Rabin's death. Including political views in memorial services would be "a grave mistake," he told Israel Radio.
Orlev went on to stress, "Today should be a day of national soul-searching, focused on the understanding that disagreements must be solved through discussions, not violence and murder."
Orlev criticized remarks by President Shimon Peres on Wednesday night, who said that the camp following in Rabin's path was growing. Peres was speaking at the Ner Yitzhak annual state ceremony held at Beit Hanassi on Wednesday night.
"If Peres meant to say that the camp of Oslo [peace agreement] supporters is growing, he did not contribute to unity in the public," Orlev said.
Rabin memorial ceremonies and classes about tolerance were held in schools throughout the country on Thursday morning, and at 11 a.m., youth movements held a rally at Tel Aviv University.
In his address at the Education Ministry's ceremony, Minister Gideon Sa'ar spoke of the danger of violence in all walks of life, including that stemming from ideology, and stressed the importance in adhering to the law.
