One of the most emotional parts of my trip to Israel this summer was when we visited the place that Rabin was shot. Each of the ten Israelis – pro and anti-Rabin – broke down while we listened to the news commentary from the day in 1995 when he was killed. Click here for a brief bio of Rabin. As Prime Minister at that time, Rabin is remembered as the last legitimate hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He orchestrated the Oslo Peace Agreement with the Palestinians and Jordan. In 1994, Rabin was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Yasser Arafat for their roles in the Oslo Agreement.
Rabin was shot on November 4, 1995 at a peace rally in Tel Aviv, thirteen years before we had a chance to vote for Obama.
People are afraid of Obama and Rabin for similar reasons. They both represent the unknown. How will this (African American) candidate with very little experience govern? We don’t know. What would the Middle East look like today if leaders like Rabin had achieved peace? We still don’t know.
Let’s hope that the latent fear about an Obama Presidency does not prove as salient as the fear surrounding Peace in the Middle East in 1995.
A grafiti mural at the spot that Yitzhak Rabin was shot in 1995.
Sean reading Rabin's speech in front of the Rabin memorial in Tel Aviv.
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1 comment:
We've been thinking the same thing. Well, not the link to Rabin maybe but that things are really so tense that it is scary for Obama. People in our age group (old fogies over 50) remember all too well the events of JFK, RFJ and MLK.Seems like you young'uns usually don't see this as a possibility, so it's interesting to see your link to the happenings before Rabin's tragic assasination.
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