This is a photograph of the wall near Tel Aviv’s Kikar Malchei Yisrael, later renamed Rabin Square, where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. The assassination shocked the citizens of Israel, and in the days following the murder, the area became a space for remembering Rabin and mourning his death. Many people visited the site, and some drew graffiti and left various stickers.
The sticker in the centre of the photograph is a white sticker with blue letters that says, “Yitzhak Rabin, sorry that we were silent.” It represents the discomfort of many citizens, who felt that they had not done enough to combat the growing violence and incitement that preceded the murder. In various right-wing demonstrations in the years following the Oslo Accords, Rabin was portrayed as being guilty of the fatal spate of terror attacks; some even called him a traitor. This sticker apologizes for the silence in the face of these accusations. Some of the graffiti refers to Rabin as a hero, and other slogans refer to the peace he had been trying to achieve between Israel and its neighbours. Another large message asks, “Why?”, while another states, “enough violence.” The words “Shalom Haver” (goodbye my friend), uttered by US President Bill Clinton in his eulogy at Rabin’s funeral, are also written on the wall.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995 by Yigal Amir.
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Yitzhak Rabin – Yitzhak Rabin was born in Jerusalem in 1922. After high school, Rabin volunteered to join the Haganah’s elite fighting unit, the Palmach, where he rose to become chief operations officer. Upon the establishment of the State of Israel, Rabin joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and served for 27 years. During the War of Independence, Rabin was the commander of the Harel Brigade which fought on the road to Jerusalem as well as in battles in the city. He continued to serve in different military roles over the years, and in 1967 he was appointed chief of staff. Under Rabin’s command, the IDF achieved victory in the Six-Day War of 1967. After retiring from the IDF, Rabin became Israeli ambassador to the United States. Upon his return from the United States, he joined the Labour Party and was elected to the Knesset in 1973. He was appointed minister of labour and subsequently, after Golda Meir’s resignation in 1974 due to the Yom Kippur War investigation, he became prime minister. He held this position until 1977, when he resigned due to the discovery of an illegal international bank account he held jointly with his wife. Rabin served a second term as prime minister from 1992 until his assassination in 1995. Yitzhak Rabin was the first Sabra (native-born Israeli) to be prime minister. Some of the major events in his career included ordering Operation Entebbe, signing the Oslo Accords, being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres, and signing a peace treaty with Jordan. The Israeli public was very divided in its opinion of the Oslo peace treaties and the concept of trading land for peace. This controversy culminated in Yigal Amir’s assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 4, 1995, while he was attending a peace rally in Tel Aviv. After his death, a blood-soaked piece of paper with the lyrics to “Shir L’Shalom” (The Song for Peace), which he had sung during the rally, was found in his pocket. Rabin’s funeral at Mt. Herzl was attended by heads of state from all around the world.
Oslo I Accord – The Oslo I Accord was a framework intended to lead to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was the first face-to-face agreement between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Secret negotiations between Israel and the PLO had been previously conducted in Oslo, Norway, and the Accord was subsequently signed on the lawn of the White House on September 13, 1993 in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, and US President Bill Clinton. The Accord created an interim Palestinian government, the Palestinian Authority (PA), which would administer the territory under its control. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would accordingly withdraw from parts of the West Bank and Gaza. The PLO acknowledged the State of Israel and pledged to renounce violence; Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and agreed to negotiate with them. The Oslo I Accord was followed by Oslo II in 1995.
