1995 – Assassination of the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin
Shalom Haver, Farewell Friend
The peace process supporters’ camp that accompanied the progress in the talks with hope was shocked by the magnitude of public objection and decided to provide a stage for the wide public support for the steps the government was taking.
A demonstration organized for November 4, 1995, drew masses of people to the city square, Kikar Malchei Yisrael, in Tel Aviv. Demonstrators expressed their support for the agreements and for Rabin’s leadership. Although Rabin was not initially enthused by the idea of a rally for support, he conceded to the organizers’ invitation and agreed to deliver remarks from the stage. Among the applauding masses, for a moment he felt his public supporters were multitudinous. At the end of the rally, while returning to his car, a Jewish assassin shot three bullets in his back.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated.
On Saturday night, November 4, 1995, on the Hebrew date of 12 Heshvan 5756, Yitzhak Rabin arrived at Kikar Malchei Yisrael in Tel Aviv to take part in a mass rally under the slogan, “Yes to Peace – No to Violence.”
At the conclusion of the warm and supportive rally where masses demonstrated their faith in him and their love for him, Yitzhak Rabin was shot on his way to his car and fatally injured by a Jewish assassin.
Yitzhak Rabin died at Ichilov Hospital at 11:14 P.M., after all efforts to save him by the doctors were unsuccessful.
Tel Aviv – Immediately following the assassination, many Israeli citizens flowed to Kikar Malchei Yisrael. Young people and adults, religious and secular, right wing and left wing, residents of the center and residents from the periphery, veteran Israelis and new immigrants, Jews and Arabs gathered to grieve in the square. They lit candles, painted graffiti messages on the walls, sang and shed tears. In the week following the assassination, the citizens turned the square, the kikar, into Rabin Square. At the end of that week, the Tel Aviv Municipality made an official decision to change the name of the square from Kikar Malchei Yisrael to Kikar Rabin.
Jerusalem – Yitzhak Rabin’s casket was placed in front of the entrance to the Knesset on the day after the assassination. From Sunday morning until the funeral held on Monday afternoon, tens of thousands of citizens ascended to Jerusalem to pay their respects, walking by the casket, and saying farewell.
“Violence is the erosion of the foundations of Israeli democracy.”
