Yitzhak Rabin (1922

Lexicon of Terms

Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Site

Political Biography

Photo: Israeli delegation to the Rhodes Conference, with Rabin on the right, January 1949

Israeli delegation to the Rhodes Conference, January 1949. Rabin is on the right.

Photo: At the entrance to the Old City in Jerusalem: Chief of Staff Rabin, Minister of Defense Dayan, and Commander of the Central Command, Narkiss, June 7, 1967.

At the entrance to the Old City in Jerusalem: Chief of Staff Rabin, Minister of Defense Dayan, and Commander of the Central Command, Narkiss, June 7, 1967.

The handshake: Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat with President Bill Clinton in between, September 13, 1993.

Signing the peace treaty with Jordan: Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with King Hussein of Jordan in Beit Gavriel, November 10, 1994.

Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995)

IDF Chief of Staff, member of the Knesset, minister, leader of the Labor Party and the Prime Minister of Israel between 1974 – 1977 and 1992-1995.

Rabin was born in Jerusalem and studied at the Kedourie agricultural school. In 1941 he joined the Palmach and served in it during the War of Independence. He commanded the Harel Brigade at the Jerusalem front and was in charge of the evacuation of Lod and Ramla. In the course of the war he commanded the military force present at the coast of Tel Aviv during the "Altalena" affair. In 1949 he participated in the talks held at Rhodes regarding the Armistice Agreement with Egypt, but he objected to the draft and returned to Israel before its signing.

During 1956–1959 he was commander of the Northern Command; he was Head of the Operations Directorate and Deputy Chief of Staff in 1959 – 1963, and Chief of Staff in 1964 – 1968. Rabin commanded the IDF during the Six Day War. Soon after his retirement from the military, he was appointed as Israel's Ambassador to Washington, a position he filled until March 1973.

Following his election to the Eighth Knesset (1973) as a member of the Labor Party, he was appointed Minister of Labor in Golda Meir's government. Less than three months later, Meir resigned, and Rabin was elected as Labor Party leader – defeating Shimon Peres by a small margin – and appointed as Prime Minister. During his term, Israel signed the Interim Agreement with Egypt and the Memorandum of Understanding with the United States. He also presided over the Entebbe Operation.

Toward the end of 1976, Rabin dissolved the coalition agreement with the National Religious Party, after its members abstained in a no-confidence motion raised by Agudat Yisrael, over the desecration of the Sabbath during a ceremony held by the Air Force on the occasion of receiving new F-15 planes. He ran against Peres for party leadership in February 1977 and was reelected as Chairman by a small margin. Despite his victory, Rabin resigned from premiership due to the revelation of a bank account Mrs. Rabin had in the United States – which was prohibited by the law at the time. Peres gained party leadership, but the party was defeated in the elections to the Ninth Knesset (1977).

Rabin sought reelection for party leadership in December 1980, but Peres ousted him and Rabin gained only 29% of the votes. In September 1984 he was appointed as Minister of Defense in the National Unity Government, in which capacity he served until March 1990. As Defense Minister, Rabin oversaw IDF's withdrawal from most of Lebanon. He supported the cancellation of the Lavi project and presided during the outbreak of the First Intifada. His policy was considered hard-lined.

In January 1989, Rabin initiated a plan to hold elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which was supported by the Government and named the "Shamir-Rabin Peace Initiative." Despite his support in the National Unity Government, Rabin supported the no-confidence motion sponsored by Peres, in the belief that the Likud will prevent progress in the peace process.

Rabin ran for party leadership in the primary elections held in the Labor Party in February 1992. He received more than 40% of the votes, defeating Shimon Peres, Ora Namir and Israel Kessar. The Labor Party's slogan in the elections to the 13th Knesset (1992) was "Israel awaits Rabin." The government he formed acted vigorously to promote "peace making," as he put it. Despite his dissociation with the PLO, following continuous disappointment from the progress of negotiations held in Washington since the Madrid Conference, Rabin did not object to the negotiations based on the Oslo Accords. On September 13th 1993 he signed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements with the PLO and shook hands with Yasser Arafat. Rabin also signed the Treaty of Peace between Israel and Jordan in October 1994, as well as expressing willingness to withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty with Syria. Rabin and Peres, after long years of struggles, had reached a "modus vivendi" and were awarded, along with Yasser Arafat, the Nobel Prize for Peace on December 10th 1994.

The extreme right-wing circles had branded Rabin as a "traitor" for his support of the peace process. In October 1995, a group of religious extremists had cast a "Pulsa diNura" (mystical curse) on him, an act interpreted by these circles as a call for violent acts. At the end of a mass demonstration in support of peace, on Saturday night, November 4th 1995, Rabin was shot to death by a Jewish assassin, Yigal Amir. The assassination brought a public outcry and caused great shock to the Israeli public. Rabin's funeral was attended by dozens of world leaders.