Yitzhak Rabin’s sister: I’m afraid there is another Yigal Ami

Almost 20 years after his assassination, Yitzhak Rabin's sister speaks out against recent Jewish violence: "The atmosphere [of hatred] is returning."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: AUGUST 5, 2015 03:11
Memorial Candle for late PM Yitzhak Rabin (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Memorial Candle for late PM Yitzhak Rabin
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Rachel Rabin, the sister of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, is concerned about the atmosphere across the country following the wave of terro that has plagued Israel in recent days, and is worried that history may be repeating itself.
“Everything is coming back in a frightening way,” she told Army Radio on Tuesday, speaking of  the stabbing at the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade and the arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma last week.
“The problem is that authorities do not handle the situation properly when it comes to murder – they knew of the perpetrator and they had the resources to prevent [the attack] and they did not,” she said, referring to the gay pride parade last week, where an ultra-Orthodox man stabbed six participants and killed 16-year-old Shira Banki.
“He [the assailant] was released from prison and publicly declared his intentions to ‘do it again.’ I don’t understand how authorities allowed him to roam freely through the parade.”
Acts like these, she said, “will destroy our society and destroy our country.”
“I’m afraid that there is another Yigal Amir, anonymous for the time being, walking among us nowadays,” she added, referring to the assassin who killed her brother in 1995.
“The combination of religious fanaticism and nationalism has been a dangerous facet throughout Jewish history,” said Rabin. “The most important commandment is ‘Thou shall not kill,’ and once that commandment is broken, all other commandments have no value.”