Yitzhak Rabin: Difference between revisions

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'''Yitzhak Rabin''' ({{IPAc-en|r|ə|ˈ|b|iː|n}};<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/rabin "Rabin"]. ''[[Collins English Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{lang-he|יִצְחָק רַבִּין}}, {{IPA-|he|jitsˈχak ʁaˈbin|IPA|He-Yitzhak_Rabin.ogg}}; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth [[List of Prime Ministers of Israel|prime minister of Israel]], serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until [[Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin|his assassination]] in 1995.

In 1992, Rabin was re-elected as prime minister on a platform embracing the [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process]]. He signed several historic agreements with the Palestinian leadership as part of the [[Oslo Accords]]. In 1994, Rabin won the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] together with long-time political rival [[Shimon Peres]] and Palestinian leader [[Yasser Arafat]]. Rabin also signed a [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty|peace treaty with Jordan]] in 1994. In November 1995, he was assassinated by an extremist named [[Yigal Amir]], an extremist who opposed the terms of the Oslo Accords. Amir was convicted of Rabin's murder and sentenced to [[life imprisonment]]. Rabin was the first [[Sabra (person)|native-born]] prime minister of Israel, the only prime minister to be assassinated, and the second to die in office after [[Levi Eshkol]]. Rabin has become a symbol of the Israeli&ndash;Palestinian peace process.

Yitzhak's mother, Rosa Cohen, was born in 1890 in [[Mogilev]] in Belarus. Her father, a [[rabbi]], opposed the [[Zionism|Zionist]] movement and sent Rosa to a Christian high school for girls in [[Gomel]], which gave her a broad general education. Early on, Rosa took an interest in political and social causes. In 1919, she traveled to Palestine on the steamship ''[[Ruslan (ship)|Ruslan]]''. After working on a [[kibbutz]] on the shores of the [[Sea of Galilee]], she moved to Jerusalem.<ref>[http://www.dadalos.org/int/Vorbilder/vorbilder/rabin/leben.htm#Eltern Yitzhak Rabin&nbsp;– from soldier to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516224539/http://www.dadalos.org/int/vorbilder/vorbilder/Rabin/leben.htm#Eltern |date=16 May 2010 }} Dadalos</ref>

Yitzhak (Isaac) Rabin grew up in [[Tel Aviv]], where the family relocated when he was one year old. He enrolled in the Tel Aviv Beit Hinuch Leyaldei Ovdim (בית חינוך לילדי עובדים, "School House for Workers' Children") in 1928 and completed his studies there in 1935. The school taught the children agriculture as well as Zionism.<ref>Slater, pp. 28–29</ref> Rabin mostly received good marks in school, but he was so [[shyness|shy]] that few people knew he was intelligent.<ref>Slater, p. 31</ref>

In 1937, he enrolled at the two-year [[Kadoorie Agricultural High School]]. He excelled in a number of agriculture-related subjects but disliked studying [[English language]]—the language of the British "enemy."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kurzman|first1=Dan|title=Soldier of Peace: The Life of Yitzhak Rabin, 1922–1995|date=1998|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-06-018684-5|edition=1.|page=[https://archive.org/details/soldierofpeaceli00kurz/page/75 75]|url=https://archive.org/details/soldierofpeaceli00kurz/page/75}}</ref><ref>Slater, p. 41</ref> He originally aspired to be an [[irrigation]] engineer, but his interest in military affairs intensified in 1938, when the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine|ongoing Arab revolt]] worsened. A young Haganah sergeant named [[Yigal Allon]], later a general in the IDF and prominent politician, trained Rabin and others at Kadoorie. Rabin finished at Kadoorie in August 1940.<ref>Slater, pp. 42–43</ref> For part of 1939, the British closed Kadoorie, and Rabin joined Allon as a security guard at Kibbutz [[Kibbutz Ginosar]] until the school re-opened.<ref>Kurzman, p. 80</ref> When he finished school, Rabin considered studying irrigation engineering on scholarship at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], although he ultimately decided to stay and fight in Palestine.<ref>Kurzman, p. 81</ref>

Following Golda Meir's resignation in April 1974, Rabin [[1974 Israeli Labor Party leadership election|was elected party leader]], after he defeated [[Shimon Peres]]. The rivalry between these two Labour leaders remained fierce and they competed several times in the next two decades for the leadership role, and even for who deserved credit for government achievements.<ref>{{cite news|url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-29/news/-mn-21196_1_rabin21196-peres-jordanstory.html|title=Rivalry Between Rabin, Peres Rekindled Over Who Deserves Credit for Jordan Pact |last=Parks|first=Michael|date=29 July 1994|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=21 July 2014}}</ref> Rabin succeeded [[Golda Meir]] as [[Prime Minister of Israel]] on 3 June 1974. This was a coalition government, including [[Ratz (political party)|Ratz]], the [[Independent Liberals (Israel)|Independent Liberals]], Progress and Development and the Arab List for Bedouins and Villagers. This arrangement, with a bare [[Majority government|parliamentary majority]], held for a few months and was one of the few periods in Israel's history where the religious parties were not part of the coalition. The [[National Religious Party]] joined the coalition on 30 October 1974 and Ratz left on 6 November.

In foreign policy, the major development at the beginning of Rabin's term was the [[Sinai Interim Agreement]] between Israel and Egypt, signed on 1 September 1975. Both countries declared that the conflict between them and in the Middle East shall not be resolved by military force but by peaceful means.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/process/docs/egypt_interim_eng.htm |title=Interim Agreement between Israel and Egypt |publisher=Knesset.gov.il |access-date=31 August 2011}}</ref> This agreement followed [[Henry Kissinger]]'s shuttle diplomacy and a threatened [[Gerald Ford#Foreign policy|"reassessment"]] of the United States' regional policy and its relations with Israel. Rabin notes it was "an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American–Israeli relations."<ref>Yitzak Rabin, ''The Rabin Memoirs'', {{ISBN|978-0-520-20766-0}}, p. 261</ref> But the agreement was an important step towards the [[Camp David Accords]] of 1978 and the [[Egyptian–IsraeliEgypt–Israel Peacepeace Treatytreaty|peace treaty with Egypt]] signed in 1979.

[[Entebbe raid|Operation Entebbe]] was perhaps the most dramatic event during Rabin's first term of office. On his orders, the IDF performed a long-range undercover raid to rescue passengers of an [[Aircraft hijacking|airliner hijacked]] by militants belonging to the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]]'s [[Wadie Haddad]] faction and the German [[Revolutionary Cells (RZ)|Revolutionary Cells]] (RZ), who had been brought to [[Idi Amin]]'s [[Uganda]].<ref name="name of reference goes here">{{cite book|title=The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership|last=Avner|first=Yehuda|author-link=Yehuda Avner|year=2010|publisher=The Toby Press|isbn=978-1-59264-278-6 |pages=303–18}}</ref> The operation was generally considered a tremendous success, and its spectacular character has made it the subject of much continued comment and study.

Towards the end of 1976 his coalition government with the religious parties suffered a crisis: A [[motion of no confidence]] had been brought by [[Agudat Yisrael]] over a breach of the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]] on an Israeli Air Force base when four [[McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle|F-15]] jets were delivered from the US and the National Religious Party had abstained. Rabin dissolved his government and decided on new elections, [[1977 Israeli legislative election|which were to be held in May 1977]].

Following the March 1977 meeting between Rabin and U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]], Rabin publicly announced that the U.S. supported the Israeli idea of defensible borders; Carter then issued a clarification. A "fallout" in U.S./Israeli relations ensued. It is thought that the fallout contributed to the Israeli Labor Party's defeat in the May 1977 elections.<ref>[[William B. Quandt]] (2005) ''Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab–Israeli Conflict Since 1967'' University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-24631-7}} and {{ISBN|978-0-520-24631-7}} p. 182</ref> On 15 March 1977, ''Haaretz'' journalist Dan Margalit revealed that a [[Dollar Account affair|joint dollar account]] in the names of Yitzhak and Leah Rabin, opened in a Washington, D.C., bank during Rabin's term of office as Israel ambassador (1968–73), was still open, in breach of Israeli law.<ref>{{cite book|last=Avner|first=Yehuda|title=The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership|year=2010|publisher=The Toby Press|isbn=978-1-59264-278-6}}</ref> According to Israeli currency regulations at the time, it was illegal for citizens to maintain foreign bank accounts without prior authorization. Rabin resigned on 7 April 1977, following the revelation by ''[[Maariv (newspaper)|Maariv]]'' journalist S. Isaac Mekel that the Rabins held two accounts in Washington, not one, containing $10,000, and that a Finance Ministry administrative penalty committee fined them [[Israeli pound|IL]]150,000.<ref>{{cite news |date=8 April 1977 |title=Rabin Resigns Following Probe into Illegal Bank Accounts Held by Him and His Wife in Washington |url=http://pdfs.jta.org/1977/1977-04-08_068.pdf?_ga=2.91740186.1850736568.1681577125-689563089.1681577125 |access-date=9 June 2013 |publisher=JTA |datequote=8 April 1977}} ("JERUSALEM, April 7 (JTA)-- Premier Yitzhak Rabin announced tonight that he was resigning...")}}</ref><ref>"{{Cite news |last=Torgerson |first=Dial |date=8 April 1977 |title=Israel's Rabin Quits in Financial Scandal— Prime Minister Resigning to Share Trial With Wife Over Illegal Bank Account", by Dial Torgerson, ''|work=Los Angeles Times'', 8 April 1977, p.|pages=I-1}}</ref> Rabin withdrew from the party leadership and candidacy for prime minister.

Rabin's assassination shocked the Israeli public and much of the rest of the world. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis gathered at the square where Rabin was assassinated to mourn his death. Young people, in particular, turned out in large numbers, lighting memorial candles and singing peace songs. On 6 November 1995, he was buried on [[Mount Herzl]]. Rabin's funeral was attended by many world leaders, among them U.S. president [[Bill Clinton]], Australian Prime Minister [[Paul Keating]], Egyptian president [[Hosni Mubarak]], and [[King Hussein of Jordan]]. Clinton delivered a eulogy whose final words were in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] – "Shalom, haver" ({{lang-he|שלום חבר}}, |lit. ''=Goodbye, friend''}}).<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/rabin/umbrella/index.html The Assassination and Funeral of Yitzhak Rabin] CNN</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jafi.org.il/education/jewish/haver.html |title=Shalom haver |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090623191631/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/jewish/haver.html |archive-date=23 June 2009 }}</ref>

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[[Category:Ministers of Defensedefense of Israel]]

[[Category:Ministers of Educationeducation of Israel]]

[[Category:Ministers of Internalinternal Affairsaffairs of Israel]]