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Rabin's Uncomfortable Legacy

On the second anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination,
the rancor hasn't died down much.

LARRY DERFNER
Israel Correspondent

T

praise of Yigal Amir prior to the
arson.
Kach member David Axelrod,
who, after the assassination told a
radio reporter, "It's not the murder of
a Jew, but the liquidation of a traitor
... Eliminating an enemy is a good
thing," was acquited on incitement
charges. The judge ruled that Axelrod
didn't know his remarks were going
to be broadcast, and that the reporter
had asked "provocative" questions.
Tel Aviv painter Avraham Pesso
was remanded in court for defacing
Baruch Goldstein's Kiryat Arba grave

munity service instead of the maxi-
mum six-year sentence.
A clinical psychologist at Bar-Ilan
University, where Yigal Amir studied,
found that 27 percent of students at
religious high schools sympathized
with Amir.
An Israel Radio poll estimated that
, 300,000 Israelis endorse assassination
of political leaders prepared to give
territory to the Palestinians, and that
up to 1,000 might be willing to carry
out such a murder. The leader found
most in danger of assassination was
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,

his week, the memorial at
the Tel Aviv City Hall
parking garage, where
Yitzhak Rabin was mur-
dered two years ago, was an island of
quiet and somberness in a land scald-
ed anew by the assassination's mem-
ory.
.Tuesday afternoon, about 100 peo-
ple stood around the black stone
sculpture. Some knelt and lit candles.
The memorial was covered with flow-
ers and wreaths. One was
inscribed, "Remember, and
sound a warning."
The place was lousy with
reporters, who had to talk to
people who didn't feel much
like talking. "They told me to
interview 40 people. It wasn't
my idea," said a reporter from
the Ma'ariv newspaper. He
went to find number 22.
The political leanings of the
crowd were pretty clear. Peace
, Now was distributing stickers
and memorial candles. "No
peace, no security — Bibi is a
failure," was another popular
sticker.
Otherwise, one man in a
yarmulke read aloud from a
prayer book.
0
Passersby on busy Ibn
Gvirol Street looked at the
small crowd without stopping.
A man sat on the sidewalk
next to a sign that read, "I am
fasting and silent today —
silent because it was words
Yigal Amin assassin of Yitzhak Rabin, shows investigators how he shot the prime minister.
that committed the murder,
even before the bullets."
In the week leading up to the
which has become a pilgrimage
followed by Meretz leader Yossi Sarid,
site for his admirers — three days
anniversary, the themes connected to
former prime minister Shimon Peres,
after Rabin's murder.
the assassination — political violence
Labor Party leader Ehud Barak and
and hatred — were replayed. The
"Stop this disgrace!" Pesso had
former Meretz leader Shulamit Aloni.
Jerusalem office of Dor Shalom
shouted as he kicked out the lights
Right-wing conspiracy theories
next to the benches where Goldstein's
(Peace Generation), led by Rabin's
about the assassination abounded.
son, Yuval, was torched. The organi-
devotees come to sit. Pesso confessed,
Hatzofeh, the newspaper of the
zation reported receiving numerous
but said he didn't regret it. The pros-
National Religious Party, printed an
ecution said it would seek only com-
telephone and e-mail messages in
account of some of them, including

the one that Peres plotted with the
Shin Bet (secret service) to kill Rabin
so Peres could inherit the prime min-
ister's seat. In the wake of the story,
Finance Minister Ya'acov Ne'eman,
Police Minister Avigdor Kahalani -
and Science Minister Michael Eitan
called for an investigation of the
Shin Bet's actions prior to the assassi-
nation.
Opposition figures, notably Peres,
said this was an amazing exercise of
playing into the hands of the darkest
political elements. Former Supreme
Court president Meir Shamgar, who
headed the commission that
investigated the assassination,
said the Shin Bet's role had
already been studied and no
shred of conspiracy found.
a'
For their part, the Left
continued to charge that the
Right, led by Netanyahu, had
incited a climate of hatred
that had prepared the ground
for Rabin's murder. "We
Won't Forget and We Won't
Forgive," was the slogan of
the moment. The Labor Party
said Netanyahu had no busi-
ness speaking at the special
memorial Knesset session this
week unless he apologized for
the way he ran the right-wing
opposition before the assassi-
nation.
In return, the Right con-
tinued to accuse the Left of
blaming half the Israeli public
for the assassination and try-
ing to exploit the murder for
political gain.
Meanwhile, the memorial
at City Hall seemed a place
where people could get away
from the arguments, where their lin-
gering grief and anger could flow qui-
etly and undisturbed. A woman in
her 20s, reluctant to give her name,
said, "My coming here has nothing to
do with all the disputes. I just felt I
needed to be here. There's really
nothing I want to say."

❑

11/7
1997.