The remarks came during an official memorial service in the Knesset, marking 27 years since Rabin’s assassination by Yigal Amir, who opposed the prime minister’s vision of peace with the Palestinians in exchange for territorial concessions. The session also saw opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu – the presumptive prime minister after winning last week’s election – strike a rare conciliatory tone, while Defense Minister Benny Gantz likened the incitement that preceded Rabin’s assassination to voices turning against ahead of the vote. , allegedly motivated by right-wing campaign propaganda against him. Smotrich said he tried to speak at the event to ask, “Let me, and let us, be partners this day.” He argued that the killing had set off “a factory of accusations which even 27 years later is generating more and more accusations against more than half the country, which has been blamed for the murder committed by the vile murderer Yigal Amir”. Smotrich argued that objections to Rabin’s policies expressed at the time were “the essence of democracy”, had not incited and played no role in the assassination. Get The Times of Israel Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories By signing up, you agree to the terms “We are allowed to protest and shout and say harsh words, and not every harsh word is incitement,” he said. “It is not the harsh words that caused the assassination of the prime minister – it was a despicable killer in Yigal Amir. “Those who failed to protect Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,” Smotrich continued, “were not right-wing and religious Zionists and settlers who rightly denounced his government’s policies – it was the security services, who not only failed to protect him , but also used irresponsible manipulations, which have not been fully revealed to date, to encourage the killer to carry out his plan.” A flash of gunfire as Yigal Amir shoots Yitzhak Rabin in the back, November 4, 1995. (Channel 2 screenshot) Smotrich’s remarks referred to Shin Bet provocateur Avishai Raviv, codenamed “Champagne,” who joined the ranks of far-right extremists before Rabin’s assassination and was charged — and later acquitted — of allegedly knowing about his intent Amir to kill Rabin and failed to prevent it. Smotrich did not elaborate on that claim and went on to argue that the anniversary of the assassination had become an annual right-left battleground “that takes us away from the main goal of this day: to remember together, to educate our children, everyone, about the limits of democracy. “I stand here before you, the Rabin family, the members of the Rabin Center, and I reach out my hand and ask, 27 years later: Please let us be partners this day. Let’s look for the common message that will make us remember together, the whole nation, left and right, religious and secular. Don’t let them turn the assassination memorial into a day of cynical exploitation and political mudslinging.” Smotrich’s remark about the Shin Bet was met with jeers from lawmakers in the plenary and a rebuke from unidentified sources within the Shin Bet who expressed “shock” at the comments. “On this day of all days, an elected official chose to encourage conspiracy theories and slander an organization whose sole purpose is to prevent any kind of terror and defend the security of the state,” the sources said. “Such remarks, which encourage extremist speech, must be condemned.” US President Bill Clinton gestures as Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat shake hands in the East Room of the White House, September 28, 1995. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak looks on behind Arafat. (AP Photo/Doug Mills) Netanyahu, who is set to become prime minister again this month after his right-wing religious bloc won a majority in last week’s election, struck an uncharacteristically conciliatory tone in his own address at the memorial service, calling on Israel’s ideological rivals to come together and focus on “what most of us agree on” — echoing a sentiment expressed earlier in the day by Prime Minister Yair Lapid and President Isaac Herzog. Netanyahu called Rabin’s killing “a terrible, disturbing and violent act that constituted an attack on democracy.” “Democracy is a gift, a supreme expression of humanity’s freedom, and political assassination is a horrible expression of its zeal,” Netanyahu said. “In a democracy, we must never allow the power of the fist to supersede the power of persuasion. “Yitzhak Rabin was a patriot of many virtues in the history of the country. He loved the country, fought for Israel, represented it around the world and was an elected leader of the state of Israel,” he continued. “After the elections are over … we have to get out of the trenches and figure out how to work together,” Netanyahu said. “Differences won’t disappear, and that’s okay. We have deep disagreements on some issues, which must be dealt with responsibly and carefully,” he said. “It’s okay to argue, we don’t have to agree on everything, but at the same time we have to know what we agree on – what most of us agree on.” Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a special plenary session marking the 27th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in the Knesset, November 6, 2022. (Noam Revkin Fenton/ Flash90) Netanyahu said ideas that enjoy broad consensus in the country include Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, the right of every Jew to immigrate to Israel and the need to “fight terror without compromise” — pledging that his incoming government will crush the current, months-long wave of Palestinian attacks. He also argued that there is broad agreement that Israel should maintain security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River, that Jerusalem should remain the unified capital of Israel under Israeli rule, and that peace should be achieved with more and more Arab nations. “First of all we reach peace with the Arab kingdom and then the Palestinians will come to their senses [and agree] to a deal we can live with,” Netanyahu said. “Wherever possible, we must aim for agreement, unity and mutual solidarity to secure Israel’s future.” The speech came after the right-wing Netanyahu spent the past year and a half repeatedly criticizing his centre-left and right-wing rivals for forming the government that replaced him after 12 consecutive years as prime minister. Netanyahu led a fiery opposition campaign, avoiding being heard to make positive remarks about the government’s behavior and refusing to support proposed legislation even when the issue aligned with his party’s ideology. In his own speech, outgoing Prime Minister Lapid said Rabin believed Israel’s strength was built on four pillars – the rule of law, the country’s alignment with the “technologically advanced West”, democracy and the desire for peace. “If Israel abandons the rule of law, dismantles its democracy, reverses our progress and ties with the international community, and completely abandons the desire for peace, it will be a weaker country and Rabin’s ideas will be buried next to it,” he said. Lapid added: “We will not allow this to happen.” Prime Minister Yair Lapid speaks in the Knesset plenary chamber during a memorial service marking the 27th anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in Jerusalem on November 6, 2022. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90) “Rabin fought for Jerusalem [as a commander in the Jewish underground] in the War of Independence, he led the IDF in the Six Day War [as chief of staff], he became prime minister, from there he went to the opposition and then came back to become prime minister, because he knew that one’s ideas and beliefs must be fought for every day anew,” said Lapid. “It’s not easy. The real test is not the successes, but the failures.” “Rabin taught us, in life and in death… that one is judged by whether one is willing to go [with their beliefs] all the way, all the way with what you think is right,” he added. “I stand here as the prime minister of Israel and I say from here: After the assassination, even after everything that has happened since the assassination, this is not the end. Yitzhak Rabin is no more. His ideas live with us.” Lapid also appeared during his speech to take a jab at popular far-right MK Itamar Ben Gvir, a close ally of Smotrich, who in recent months has been filmed on several occasions brandishing pistols at Arab and Palestinian civilians during clashes. “Power doesn’t come from guns being brandished,” Lapid said. “This is the weapon of cowards, of lawbreakers, and it was his weapon [Rabin’s assassin] Yigal Amir”. A screen grab from a video of MK Itamar Ben Gvir, with a pistol in his right hand, during an altercation with Arab security guards at the Expo Tel Aviv convention center, December 21, 2021. (Twitter) Outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz delivered a fiery speech at the summit, recalling how he was labeled a “murderer” when he visited the Western Wall the night before last week’s election. “I got a small…
