Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) on Sunday told Army Radio that the assassination of late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin “had no historical effect.” Edelstein said that if the murder “achieved any goals, then those goals were the opposite of what the despicable murderer had aimed to achieve.”
Edelstein referred to Saturday night’s rally marking the Rabin assassination in the Tel Aviv square named after the murdered prime minister, saying: “When they say at the rally that the political assassination was very successful, that Yigal Amir succeeded in his mission – what if it is not encouraging political violence?”
He added that he hoped that “the day will come, and not in decades, when we will all understand that the only conclusion for all of us, on the right, on the left and in the center, is not to blur our political differences, but to continue the debate.”
Meretz Chairman MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) said at the rally that Rabin’s murder was “the best political assassination in history.” According to her, “the goal has been achieved, peace is shattered,” and “we can’t ignore the fact that what in 1995 was fringe extremism, today constitutes the central, organized and well-funded work plan of the government.”
After the Army Radio interview, Edelstein’s office issued a statement saying, “The assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was a terrible tragedy for his family and friends, and a severe shock to the State of Israel. In his speech, the Knesset Speaker said that the lowly murder did not help Yigal Amir achieve the result he hoped to achieve, on the contrary, he extended the life of the Oslo Accords, which were destined to fail from their inception.”
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni said in her Rabin Square speech Saturday night: “History is repeating itself. It is enough to read the posts of the Israeli prime minister, watch the videos, listen to the speeches, read the violent talkbacks that this evil spirit has been bringing with it – accusing anyone who thinks differently of treachery and endangering the state. We say that whomever is working for peace is not a traitor. It was true then and it’s true today.”