חוזרים לכיכר

Last night: Kikar Rabin shortly before the event started.


B"H

Thirteen years ago, on a Saturday night in November 1995, the former Israelis Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was shot in front of the stairs of the Tel Aviv Municipality (at the backside of the building). His murderer Yigal Amir then was a law student at Bar Ilan University.

Every year, different organizations hold a memorial service for the assassinated Prime Minister. Usually on the Mozzaei Shabbat after the 4th November. Location: Kikar Rabin in Tel Aviv.
The huge square in front of the municipality building where everything happened 13 years.

The Hebrew date is going to be tomorrow (Monday) and Rabin's family is having a private memorial service, including Kaddish, at the Rabin grave on Har Herzl in Jerusalem.

When Rabin was killed in 1995, it was also a Mozzaei Shabbat and I was in Israel at that time. No one not having been here and facing the murder cannot imagine what was going on in our country during the time after. It was a terrible disaster and an awful feeling. A feeling of "What now ? Such things happen in Dallas / Texas but not in downtown Tel Aviv.
Or do they ?
Things got even worse when the police announce shortly after that the killer had been a Jew and not an Arab. Even a religious Jew from Herzliya.

Someone told me yesterday afternoon that all kinds of people will be there at night. I had made the remark that it is probably only the Leftists going but who knows. I went, more or less, on time. The event was due to start at 7.30pm and when I arrived, all my worst expectations came true. The left – wing youth organization "Noar Lomed ve'Oved" was all over the place. A "Meretz" stand (extreme left – wing party) and even "Chadash" (the Arab Knesset party) had opened up a stand. When I passed, I overheard the word "Kivush – Occupation" and everyone can surely imagine how excited I was. Okay, Tel Aviv's municipality is in the middle of an election campaign but letting the Arabs making propaganda at a memorial event ?

Furthermore, the "Shalom Achshaf – Peace Now" movement was there. Nevertheless, many many "normal" participants were there as well, and in the end, we were about 70.000 – 100.000 people.
"Meretz" and "Peace Now" can make as much propaganda in Tel Aviv as they like, in Jerusalem their stands would get stoned after a few minutes. Almost everyone in Jerusalem has either been a victim in a terror attack, witnessed one (as I did) or knows people who were involved. No chance for dreamers and the illusionary left - wingers.

The square was already filled up when I arrived. Thousands of people were there. Mostly the younger ones and young couples or families. The weather was perfect and warm.
I made my round and overheard a few conversations. "Peace Now" handed out stickers, T – shirts and huge signs / posters. There, you could get anything against the settler movement. As if the settlers had killed Rabin.
I found a great spot to stand near the stage; right in front of the VIP entrance. This time, no one took a chance and everyone getting near the stage was checked just like at the airport. We visitors outside just underwent a brief security check.
A screen showed the last speech Rabin made before he was shot. At the same location where we were standing now. Then the Israeli "Superstar – A Star is born" Harel Skadd sang the first song.

It was a nice mixture – Someone made a speech and right afterwards there was music from different Israeli singers and artists. Ran Danker sang and later on, we had to suffer through a song presented by Efrat Gosh. She must have been doped or something, as she was completely in Lala – Land.

The speakers were President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Tel Aviv's mayor Ron Chulda'i and Foreign Minister Zipi Livni. Further screens were set up for the spectators standing far away from the stage. However, I stood very close and I was able to see everyone without the help of a screen.

Shimon Peres claimed that he and all of us miss Rabin. (During his life time, Rabin was Peres' greatest competitor).
And it was only Ehud Barak who got to the point. Reality is that today, we are more far away from peace than ever before. Iran and the Hizbollah want to destroy us and the Hamas has similar plans. Not to forget Gilad Shalit who is still a hostage in Gaza.
Someone standing behind me yelled at Barak: "So, why don't you get him out !"
No response but Barak continued gossiping and cursing the settler movement.
As soon as the name Gilad Shalit was heard, people gave a big applause. In fact, not anyone neither mentioned the real present security situation nor Gilad Shalit at all. Ehud Barak was the only one although he continued with a hateful speech about the religious movements.

Fact is, that Rabin and his Oslo Agreement totally failed. Shimon Peres had left that out of his speech.
The Arab terrorist shooting the students at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem last March, used a weapon handed over from the Israelis to the Palestinian Authority. Thanks to Rabin's agreements.

Who really believes in a mutual peace in Israel ? Haven't we already given up hope a long time ago ? How can you make peace with Palestinians whose only goal it is to get rid of the Jews and occupy all the land by themselves.
Get rid of the Jews, no matter how.

And what would Rabin say if he saw an Ehud Olmert or a Zipi Livni today ? He would turn around in his grave in anger how people misused his peace ideas. Rabin never spoke about dividing Jerusalem or returning the Golan Heights to Syria. He was obsessed with security and as a soldier, he knew what would happen.
And what about Sderot ? Did anyone talk about Kassam rockets at the Kikar last night ?
No, of course not because they were too busy yelling against the Jewish settlers.

Lot's of criticism was spread because the religious population entirely stayed away from the event. Hardly anyone has ever shown up before and won't do so next year. The reason is not that all religious love or identify with the killer Yigal Amir. The reason is that there will never be a peace. Nor the Hamas or Abu Mazen, nor the Hizbollah or anyone else wants peace with Israel. The only thing they want is to destroy us and if we think that we can get a peace through handing them over more and more land, then we are mistaken, stupid and unrealistic. Silly dreamers who will loose everything in the end. Only Meretz & Co. may follow their crazy ideologies and will find themselves without a country one day.

Zipi Livni started her speech with an apology.
She apologized for not having attended the events earlier. When Rabin was killed, she was still a member of the Likud and in those days, the head of the Likud was Benjamin Netanyahu. And it is Netanyahu being accused by the Rabin daughter, Daliah Rabin Pelosoff, of having killed her father.
It was Netanyahu who let his followers swing the posters where Rabin was shown as Hitler or a Nazi.
A crazy accusation but Daliah as well as her mother Leah, stuck to their opinion.

Furthermore, Livni announced that she wants a free democratic country just as everyone else in the world. No religious influence and any rabbis telling the people what to do.
Well, well, she must have completely forgotten that just a few days ago, she went to see the spiritual leader of the Sephardic haredi SHASS party, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. And at the meeting, Zipi covered her hair with a kind of curtain. Just according to the Halacha.
She can announce whatever she likes; fact is that she needs SHASS in her coalition.

None of the leading politicians making a speech referred to today's tense security situation. It was as if everyone lived in the past, 13 years ago.

The worst was a representative from Barak Hussein Obama.
"Who the hell invited this idiot ?"
He told us in his southern American accent that Obama would be Rabin's best friend.
Well, Mister Obama representative, you have no idea what your are claiming. Especially Rabin would never make an Iran deal without any conditions, accept money from the Hamas or divide Jerusalem.
Why was this guy invited at all ? To get some Obama feeling ? The guy just made a fool of himself.

And this was the moment, when many people started going home. Me too, by the way.

Remark:
About two weeks ago, Yigal Amir gave interviews to the Israeli TV channels Arutz 10 and the Second Israel Channel. The interviews were never broadcasted and now it came out why.
In his interviews, Amir claimed to have shot Rabin only once. The second bullet came from a totally different direction.
The famous conspiracy theory would have reawaken if the interview was shown on TV. According to many people, Rabin wasn't shot by Yigal Amir but only injured. The final shot happened inside his car on the way to Ichilov Hospital. The killer: A Shabak (secret service) agent.