This is a campaign sticker promoting the Labour Party headed by Yitzhak Rabin in the 1992 election for Israel’s 13th Knesset. On the right is a photograph of Yitzhak Rabin, in the middle is the slogan, “Israel is Waiting for Rabin” with the words “Rabin” and “Labour,” and on the left are the words, “Israel is waiting for June 23,” the date of the elections. The writing is in blue on a white background, and the photograph of Rabin is in black and white. The slogan is a reference to the Six-Day War song, “Nasser is Waiting for Rabin,” which was popular in the late 1960s and served as a reminder that Rabin was a war hero.
In the 1992 election campaign, the Labour Party sought to return to power after six years of a Likud-led government. Ultimately, Labour won the elections, and Yitzhak Rabin became prime minister.
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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.
Elections in Israel – Israel is a democratic country, and general elections for the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, take place, according to the law, once every four years. The nationwide elections are based on a multi-party, proportional representation system. The legal voting age in Israel is 18, and all Israeli citizens from sectors may vote and be elected. Using voting slips with the initials of the parties, citizens vote for their preferred party and not for individual candidates. The 120 seats in the Knesset are then assigned proportionally to the parties according to the number of votes received. After the elections, the president of Israel chooses the leader of the largest party or of the party that is most likely to form a viable coalition government. This leader then forms a government, the Knesset gives it a vote of confidence, and the leader then becomes prime minister.
1992 Israeli Elections – The elections for the 13th Knesset took place on 23, 1992. The previous government had been a National Union government, comprising both Likud and Labour, with Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres serving as prime minister in rotation. However, when Shamir led the government, Peres tried to create a narrow Labour government and bring an end to the joint government. Following this, Shamir formed an unstable coalition with right-wing parties that disagreed with Shamir’s policies. The election campaign focused on the deterioration of security due to the Intifada, issues of religion and state, and raising unemployment. The elections resulted in a change of government with Yitzhak Rabin leading a Labour government for the first time in 15 years. This new government led Israel to the Oslo Accords, and Yitzhak Shamir who headed the Likud at the time, resigned from politics, passing the leadership to Benjamin Netanyahu.
