Netanyahu honors Rabin with call for ‘national reconciliation’

Netanyahu declared the time has arrived for national “unity” at an event marking the 22nd anniversary of Yitzchak Rabin’s assassination.

The Knesset held a special session on Wednesday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The session was held in the presence of President Reuven Rivlin and Supreme Court President Esther Hayut.

In his speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that when Rabin, who was shot by a Jewish assassin, led the country towards the Oslo peace Accords with the Palestinians, “he was acting according to his judgment of what was for the good of Israel, and today I am acting according to my judgment of what is for the good of Israel.”

”I said it then, and it is documented: ‘He’s mistaken, but he is not a traitor.’ I had many conversations with him in which we agreed on many things – the economy, security, the peace agreement with Jordan, which I fully supported,” Netanyahu said in an attempt to set the historical record straight.

”I am calling for national reconciliation and unity… I repeat this message with full force, and I call to unite,” Netanyahu declared.

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Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995, at the end of a rally in support of the Oslo Accords at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv.

The assassin, an Israeli named Yigal Amir, opposed Rabin’s peace initiative and particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords.

”We have the responsibility to prevent acts of zealotry and violence that can lead to self-destruction… National decisions are made at the ballot and not anywhere else. Those are solid principles on which most Israeli citizens can unite,” Netanyahu said.

By: World Israel News Staff