Thousands to pack Tel Aviv plaza to mark 24 years since Rabin assassination
Tens of thousands of Israelis were expected to attend a Tel Aviv rally Saturday night commemorating the 24th anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
As the evening descended police began to seal off streets surrounding the square.
Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz will be the keynote speaker at the memorial event in Rabin Square. It was renamed to honor the prime minister after he was gunned down at the square by religious extremist Yigal Amir on November 4, 1995, while attending a rally in support of his government’s peace efforts.
As it was 24 years ago, the slogan of Saturday’s gathering is “Yes to peace, no to violence.”
In addition to Gantz, other speakers will include the director-general of the Prime Minister’s office under Rabin, Shimon Shabas, the director of a recently released film dramatizing the prime minister’s assassination, Yaron Zilberman, along with representatives from the Women Wage Peace NGO.
“Twenty four years have passed since [Rabin’s] murder at the square and the past year saw violent, partisan discourse, similar to that which led to the assassination, reach a new peak,” organizers said in a statement. They were hoping that over 100,000 would pack Rabin Square.
At a Likud rally earlier this week, Bar-Ilan University Professor Mordechai Kedar peddled a long disproven conspiracy theory that Amir had not been Rabin’s assassin. Both Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Kedar’s remarks.
A variety of artists will perform at the annual memorial rally, which regularly sees musical acts sprinkled in between speeches, including Aviv Geffen, Achinoam Nini, the Tel Aviv Youth Band, Louie Ali, Rotem Cohen and Shimon Buskila.
Singer Maor Edri had also been slated to perform but the pop-artist announced on his Instagram earlier this week that he had pulled out of the event over its “political” nature.
“When I was asked to appear at a rally in memory of the late Mr. Yitzhak Rabin, I did not think twice. I felt that the prime minister was calling on me and I got chills thinking about the dignity of the man rather than his political opinions,” Edri wrote. “But when it became clear to me that it might be a political rally, I decided to take a big step back and cancel my participation. Instead of appearing at the rally, I will go up to Mount Herzl and light a candle to honor [him].”
Edri is known for his right-wing leanings, appearing in a Likud campaign video ahead of the September election, as well as at a rally in support of Elor Azaria, a former soldier of the Israel Defense Forces who served prison time for killing an incapacitated Palestinian attacker in Hebron.
Edri’s decision came after a Facebook post by far-right rapper and political activist Yoav “The Shadow” Eliasi in which the latter urged Edri to cancel his appearance, claiming it was not an event of national remembrance, “but an incitement rally against the right.”
Meanwhile, Labor party chairman Amir Peretz won’t take part in Saturday’s event, though reportedly not due to lack of trying.
Channel 12 reported earlier this week that Peretz had requested to speak at the rally and that there had been negotiations behind the scenes to allow him to do so but organizers ultimately refused, deciding that Gantz would be the only current politician to address the event.
They said that Gantz, who was elected in September as the main representative of the center-left bloc and who’s been tasked with forming the next coalition, is the current figurehead representing peace and unity, according to the report.
Organizers argued that if Peretz were allowed to address the crowd, other prominent left-wing politicians such as Democratic Camp leader Nitzan Horowitz and Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint List of predominately Arab majority parties, would file similar requests.
Interspersed between songs and speeches will be short clips from Zilberman’s film “Incitement,” which follows the heated atmosphere that led to Rabin’s assassination through the eyes of the killer, Amir.
Amir had opposed the Rabin-led Oslo Accords, which sought to hand over control of portions of the West Bank to the Palestinians as part of the landmark peace agreement.
“Incitement” won Best Picture at Israel’s Ophir Awards this year.