Reflections on Yitzhak Rabin

Between 1993 and 1995, Yitzhak Rabin had been engaged in a peace process with the Palestinians. It was deeply controversial, in Israel and outside. There was some support but also much opposition. The tension mounted in 1995. In September of that year I wrote an article in the press giving him my own personal support. At the same time, however, I wrote to Rabin privately saying that I was deeply worried about internal opposition to the plan, and urged him to spend as much time negotiating with his fellow Israeli citizens – specifically the religious Zionists – as with the Palestinians. I did not receive a reply.

On Motzei Shabbat, 4th November 1995, the world heard the news that Prime Minister Rabin had been assassinated at a peace rally by a young religious Zionist. I attended the funeral in Jerusalem. Returning the next day, I went straight from the airport to the Israeli ambassador to tell him about the funeral, which he had not been able to attend having had to stay in London to deal with the media.

As I entered his office, the ambassador handed me an envelope. “This has just arrived for you in the diplomatic bag.” It was Yitzhak Rabin’s reply to my letter – perhaps one of the last letters he wrote. It was a moving re-affirmation of his faith but by the time it was delivered he was no longer alive. He had pursued peace, as we are commanded to do, but he had gone too fast and paid the ultimate price.

His reply now hangs on a wall in my office. Rabin’s words, so true then, still call to us now even twenty years on from his death. We must all, as Rabin says in his reply, “continue to work together for the continued unity and strength of our people and our country”. Let this be our inspiration as we pray for and work towards a true and lasting peace for all of Israel.

Full text of Yitzhak Rabin's response (dated 18 October 1995) to Rabbi Sacks:

Dear Rabbi Sacks,

Thank you very much for your eloquent and thought-provoking letter and your good wishes for the New Year. Your continuous and unfailing support for the peace process is highly appreciated by the Israeli government and myself.

These are, indeed, trying times. We are making every possible effort to shape a new and promising future for our people and the struggle for peace is no less difficult than the waging of war. Unfortunately, it takes its toll on human lives as well. Every casualty which we suffer, whether it is a soldier or a civilian, regardless of where he or she resides, grieves me deeply. Yet I know that there is no long-term answer to our security problems, and to our co-existence with our neighbors, other than peace. For the sake of our children and grandchildren we cannot forfeit this historic opportunity. I have said many times that we did not pray for nearly two millennia for the return to Zion only to find ourselves ruling over two million Palestinians or creating a bi-national State. I know that you share this view.

I understand the anxiety of Israelis who live in the territories and appreciate their concerns. These are shared by many Jews, religious and non-religious. I have met with their representatives, read their letters, driven past their demonstrations. I listen to their arguments and I am not indifferent to their needs, nor have I ignored their requests.

Thank God, we are a democratic nation and all voices are heard. But even within the democratic framework, obstructions, the call for violence, the use of undemocratic means to destabilize our system and our way of life, cannot and should not be permitted. Compromise and tolerance are essential, if peace is to be achieved.

I am well aware of the tremendous contribution of religious Zionism to the State of Israel and the Jewish people. The fact that its supporters are so passionate in their views on the peace process is, perhaps ironically, the best testimony to their commitment to Zionism. But no less Zionist are the views of those who believe that Am Yisrael [the Jewish people] takes precedence over Greater Eretz Yisrael [the land of Israel].

I am deeply disturbed if the public debate on the peace process is perceived by some as a debate of religious versus non-religious. There are secular Jews who vehemently oppose the peace process just as there are religious Jews who fervently support it. The decisions which my Government and I have taken are not rooted in hate toward Judaism, but in ahavat Yisrael [love of one’s fellow Jew] in the fervent hope that never again will a father say kaddish for his fallen son, never again will our hevre kaddishah [burial societies] scour the streets for the bloodied remains, never again will a bar mitzvah read maftir for the first time without his father by his side.

In Washington last month I publicly said to Mr Arafat that: “If all the partners to peace-making do not unite against the evil angels of death by terrorism, all that will remain of this ceremony are color snapshots, empty mementos … We will not permit terrorism to defeat peace. We will not allow it. If we do not have partners in this bitter, difficult war, we will fight it alone. We know how to fight. We know how to win.” At the same time the State of Israel and its Government is making every effort to protect the lives of Israelis and Jews, not only in Israel but wherever they may be. That is both my solemn responsibility as Prime Minister and my personal commitment as a son of the Jewish people.

Privately, I hope that you can communicate this message to Anglo-Jewry, and to the Jewish world in the Diaspora in general, for the partnership between Israel and the Diaspora remains a cornerstone of our policy. I trust that we will continue to work together for the continued unity and strength of our people and our country.

Again, I deeply thank you for all you have done, and close in the belief that: Hashem yevarech et amo bashalom, “God will bless His people with peace.”

Sincerely yours,

Yitzhak Rabin