BICOM

Knesset Members exchanged sharp words during an event to mark the anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

A special Knesset session was held on the Hebrew anniversary of Rabin’s death and included speeches by Prime Minister Netanyahu, Opposition leader Isaac Herzog and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein.

During his speech, Edelstein warned about the dangers of incitement from both sides. He urged those on the right “do not boycott, do not hold a grudge forever,” and on the left, “don’t forever view an entire sector of the public as stained… don’t exclude an entire part of the public from being part of the memory and learning lessons.” Later speeches descended into recriminations over who was responsible for the atmosphere of incitement that preceded Rabin’s death.

Netanyahu positioned himself within Rabin’s political legacy, focusing on Rabin’s insistence on security, his resistance to any externally-imposed solution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and his identification of Iran and radical Islam as a major threat to regional stability.

Herzog denounced incitement and held Netanyahu responsible for the current atmosphere. He argued that “the power of violence, the poison of racism, hatred and incitement mixed with silence were fertile ground for the murder… you [Netanyahu] didn’t mean it, but you didn’t prevent it, either”. At a public memorial rally last week in Rabin Square, Herzog accused the Prime Minster directly of incitement saying “we can no longer let anyone, not a bully nor a leader, continue to incite – not a Knesset member, not a Minister and not the Prime Minister.”

Herzog’s remarks were later criticised by Naftali Bennett, leader of the Jewish Home party who said he was blaming every right winger for Rabin’s death.