Israeli PM Lapid, President Herzog Urge Tolerance, Respect for Democracy at Rabin Memorial
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday at the annual state memorial ceremony for former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that “Rabin’s murder was an assassination attempt on the very idea of a shared life. We barely survived it, but the wounds have not yet healed. It is our job to heal them every day anew.”
The ceremony, held at Mount Herzl Cemetary in Jerusalem, is also a memorial to Rabin’s wife, Leah, who died on November 12, 2000, five years after her husband’s assassination at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Lapid emphasized the themes of unity and tolerance at the ceremony, which took place on the same day that consultations started for the formation of a new government that will likely include far-right extremists.
The most prominent among them, Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Otzma Yehudit faction that ran as part of the Religious Zionism list, vandalized the prime minister’s car weeks before the assassination, brandishing the hood ornament on television while threatening, “We got to his car. We’ll get to him, too.”
The prime minister told attendees at the ceremony, “As fate would have it, this commemoration for Yitzhak Rabin takes place only a few days after the State of Israel held elections and emerged from them once again divided, angry, and threatening to split into ‘us and them.'”
Nevertheless, Lapid asserted, “an absolute majority of this country’s citizens believe in the rule of law, democratic values, and mutual respect. The absolute majority of Israelis want a Judaism that unites us, not a Judaism that is a political tool and certainly not a Judaism that is an endorsement of violence.”
President Isaac Herzog, who spoke at the ceremony before Lapid, also referred to the recent election, asking supporters of the new government to “hug your brothers and sisters on the losing side. Be attentive to their needs, their pain, their dreams. Remember: the elections in Israel are not a ‘zero-sum game.’ Do not be afraid to compromise and reach a middle ground, in order to avoid a schism and a rift within us.”
The president assured “the losing camp” that despite their fears, “the country is not finished nor destroyed. The democratic decision must be respected. Continue to make your voice heard and fight for your positions, as in any healthy democracy.”
Herzog likewise addressed Israel’s supporters abroad, including in the Jewish Diaspora, saying: “We are all committed to the fate of the State of Israel, we are all committed to its basic existence as a Jewish and democratic state that maintains the rule of law, human and civil rights, and respect for all minority groups within it. We will continue to protect our foundations as a people, as a society and as a country.”
Presumed incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has been accused by members of the Rabin family of inciting violence during anti-government rallies in the period leading up to the assassination, did not attend the ceremony but is expected to speak at a memorial service at the Knesset.
