At the 15th anniversary memorial of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed: ‘I am a partner to Rabin’s approach that we must always continue pushing for peace.’On Wednesday afternoon, Israeli dignitaries gathered at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, to mark 15 years since the assassination of the former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin.
Netanyahu noted that since Rabin’s assassination there has been a positive change. He added, ‘Now we are less divided within ourselves, we hear less screams, people listen to each other more, and social gaps are narrowing.’
However, Netanyahu also said that in order to achieve a peace deal Israeli citizens understand that Israel must ensure its security, and he warned of the threat of fundamental Islam.
‘In the 15 years that have passed, fundamental Islam has strengthened. It won the elections in Gaza, took over southern Lebanon, and has threatened the United States,’ the Prime Minister added.
Israeli President, Shimon Peres addressed Rabin directly, saying, ‘We will not forget that you were murdered. You were murdered by an evil man who planned to kill the nation’s spirit.’
Rabin was murdered on November 4, 1995 (Cheshvan 12 in the Hebrew calendar) by Yigal Amir. Amir, a right-wing Orthodox Jew born in Herzaliya, Israel, was an active opponent of the Oslo Peace Accords. He shot Rabin at a rally supporting the peace accords in Kings of Israel Square, Tel Aviv, subsequently renamed Rabin Square.
Amir is serving a life sentence, plus 14 years for two previous conspiracies to assassinate Rabin and has been held in Ayalon Prison since 2003.
