Summary
Yitzhak Rabin was a central figure in Israel’s history—both a warrior and a peacemaker. Rising from a disciplined military commander to a respected political leader, he embodied Israel’s struggles for security and its aspirations for peace.
Known for his integrity and calm strength, Rabin faced personal and political trials, including fierce rivalries and public scrutiny. His leadership helped shape Israel’s defense capabilities, strengthen ties with the United States, and achieve landmark peace agreements with Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinians.
Despite his doubts about the long-term viability of these accords, his commitment to dialogue defined his later years. His tragic assassination by a Jewish extremist exposed the destructive power of internal division and remains a lasting warning against political hatred and societal fragmentation.
This article originally appeared in Israel Hayom on November 9, 2025.
One might have thought that Israel, an exemplary democratic country, would always be safe from a political attack. We were sorely mistaken. Verbal violence ultimately incited murder.
For the first time since the creation of the State of Israel, a prime minister had been assassinated by a Jew. Alas, even today, cruelty is omnipresent within Israeli society. It gnaws away, proliferates dangerously, destroys, like a cancer. The discord between Right and Left, between secularists and religious people, is undoubtedly the most serious of all our daily threats, near and far. It is high time to return to reason.
I had the great privilege of knowing Yitzhak Rabin. In 1965, while in charge of communications at the IDF General Staff, I followed his travels in the north of the country, in the company of General David “Dado” Elazar.
Rabin was calm but worried. He chain-smoked and drank several cups of coffee. Immersed in military maps, he gave the impression of overseeing the military situation; he had answers for every eventuality. To relax, he played tennis with Dado. He was a good player, and his serve was potent. When he lost the ball, he grumbled, but immediately afterward, he smiled. He inspired confidence in us. His good character and sportsmanship were exemplary.
However, the belligerent declarations of the Arabs and the threats of war put Rabin under immense stress. This daily strain, coupled with sleep deprivation, plunged him into anxiety and insecurity. Rabin suffered a severe nervous breakdown. He smoked more than three packs of cigarettes a day and drank about 20 cups of coffee. Poisoned by nicotine and caffeine, his personal physician gave him an injection, and for 36 hours, while the country was on a war footing, the Chief of Staff slept soundly. After this deep sleep, a distraught Rabin was forced to ask his deputy, Ezer Weizman, to take command of the IDF. Weizman flatly refused and encouraged his leader to overcome this difficult time. Rabin quickly recovered and led his country to the most resounding victory in modern history.
This war gave rise to a whole series of myths and accolades. Proud of his victory on the battlefield, Yitzhak Rabin nevertheless sought to put things into perspective. In a remarkable speech delivered on Mount Scopus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rabin spoke of the human and spiritual qualities of the IDF: “The paratroopers who captured the Western Wall leaned against its stones and wept. I doubt that one finds many such symbolic gestures in the entire history of humankind. We have earned the right to be aware of our superiority without having despised our adversaries. Our army is that of a nation that loves and ardently desires peace but is also capable of fighting bravely when its enemies force it to do so.”
On that day, Rabin was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University.
After more than eight years in the Palmach and 20 years in the IDF, Rabin ended his military career with distinction and in the euphoria of victory. The future lay before him. He was only 46 years old. For a long time, he had been racking his brains to determine the right path to take. He was a courageous fighter, but not a political wrestler. He lacked the cunning and shrewd nature of the politician, the one prone to intrigue and underhanded tactics. He was a man of integrity and loyalty, though timid.
In February 1968, Rabin left for Washington to represent his country. He was received triumphantly as an American hero. However, his new career began with two serious incidents in an America still mired in the Vietnam War: the assassinations of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy.
Rabin spent over five years in the American capital. He strengthened relations between the two countries and with Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. During this period of diplomacy, he gave hundreds of interviews and lectures and attended countless banquets and galas. His name was on everyone’s lips, and the Israeli ambassador became a veritable star. Despite his official duties, at his wife’s urging, he accepted substantial speaking fees.
Having returned from Washington, Rabin plunged into the nightmare of the Yom Kippur War. The hero of the Six-Day War volunteered to advise his friend, Dado, the Chief of Staff, and share his knowledge and extensive experience in defense matters.
He also contributed to the implementation of the airlift, which continuously transported American military equipment.
Two months after the war, in December 1973, Rabin joined Golda Meir’s government as Minister of Labor. Six months later, the “grandmother of Israel” resigned, and Rabin became prime minister. Never in the young nation’s history had there been such a meteoric rise. Rabin, supported by the old guard of the Labor Party, was the first Sabra general to hold this position. He was only 52 years old. Clearly, destiny played a dominant role in this man’s life. His career was full of twists and turns.
As soon as he decided to go into politics, Rabin was put on the spot by the press. Shimon Peres, his long-time adversary and whom Rabin referred to as “the eternal schemer,” fought him on all fronts and at every opportunity.
On June 3, 1974, Rabin presented his government to the Knesset. Peres was appointed Minister of Defense. General Yigal Allon was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Two weeks later, a U.S. president made a historic visit to Israel.
By receiving Richard Nixon with great fanfare in Jerusalem, Rabin sought to confirm that his policy was entirely dependent on the United States. After initialing the disengagement agreements with Syria and Egypt in Geneva, Rabin signed his first strategic agreement with Washington. The signing of an interim agreement with Egypt created a new balance of power in the region. It averted the prospect of renewed war on the southern front and paved the way for genuine negotiations aimed at reconciliation and peace.
The year 1975 saw the worst Arab attacks perpetrated in the country. Bombs exploded in shopping malls, airports, and hotels; dozens of deaths and injuries plunged the country into mourning.
The Lebanese Civil War weakened Syria but frustrated the Palestinians, who decided to launch a series of spectacular attacks to attract international attention. The culmination of this wave of terrorism was undoubtedly the hijacking of the Air France Airbus in Entebbe, Uganda. On July 2, 1976, Rabin decided to free the hostages in a daring operation. This spectacular raid was widely applauded and became legendary among the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) exploits.
The year 1976 ended with a farcical incident: Phantom jets purchased in the United States and flown to Israel landed on a Friday, at the beginning of Shabbat. Sacrilege! The National Religious Party, a member of the coalition, passed a no-confidence vote along with the opposition. The Rabin government fell, remaining in place only as a transitional cabinet until the elections.
The following year began with a series of scandals unprecedented in the country’s history. Rabin was clearly having a run of bad luck: shady dealings, corruption networks, fake invoices. An Israeli official managed to manipulate a Swiss bank backed by the Rothschild family. The governor of the Bank of Israel was arrested for embezzlement, and the Minister of Housing shot himself in the head. A veritable soap opera of misfortunes culminated in a scandal involving an illegal bank account held by the Rabin couple in Washington. Without hesitation, Rabin announced his resignation from the government and the chairmanship of the Labor Party. Leah Rabin, in shock, attempted suicide. This affair dominated the news for a long time but ultimately reinforced Rabin’s image of integrity and loyalty.
The political wilderness years lasted more than seven years. Rabin tried several times to return to party power, but each time Peres blocked his path.
In 1984, Rabin joined the national unity government and served as Minister of Defense for over six years. During his tenure, he successfully evacuated Israeli forces from the Beirut area and the Shouf Mountains. In October 1985, he launched a raid against the PLO headquarters in Tunis. Following the disastrous First Lebanon War led by then-Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon, Rabin focused on boosting troop morale and improving the IDF’s combat equipment. In this context, he opposed the construction of a new Israeli fighter jet, the Lavi.
Rabin was surprised by the outbreak of the First Intifada. He had thought this popular uprising would be temporary. He ignored its impact and disdainfully neglected the stone-throwing by Palestinian children. He tried to crush the revolt by force and repression. It was a failure.
In 1992, having regained the Labor Party leadership, Rabin won parliamentary elections for the first time and became Prime Minister for the second time. Peres was the minister of foreign affairs.
Fundamental questions were being raised. What had been achieved by the Zionist dream? How many more soldiers would fall, how many more civilians would be killed? How many more disabled people will there be? When will the bloodshed, the wars, the terrorism, the hostage-taking, and the blackmail of all kinds finally end? What would become of Israel?
Since taking the reins of power, these reflections constantly haunted Rabin. With years of experience, he approached each subject with a philosophical and sensitive approach. He symbolized the sabra—the true Israel—its lightning victories, its struggles for survival, its joys and its tears; war and peace. He was, in a way, its emblematic figure. Under Peres’s impetus, he hastily reshaped the map of the Middle East by recognizing the PLO, led by Arafat, and signing the Oslo Accords with him, despite intense opposition pressure.
The burning desire to achieve peace with the Palestinians blinded the leaders of the time. The romantic vision of a new, idyllic Middle East, as Peres so fervently desired, succeeded in swaying minds and altering the geopolitical landscape. Ambitious advisors, seeking quick fame, went along with it, and the eager press was complicit as well. Rabin acknowledged that these accords were not perfect and that he hesitated for a long time before shaking Arafat’s hand. He compared the Oslo Accords to a Swiss cheese: “There are too many holes, too many gaps that we should fill,” he said, dissatisfied. Unfortunately, he trusted Yasser Arafat’s “good intentions,” and he was very wrong.
Rabin also signed a peace treaty with King Hussein of Jordan, the second Arab country after Egypt to establish diplomatic relations with the State of Israel.
On Saturday, November 4, 1995, Kings of Israel Square in the heart of Tel Aviv was filled with tens of thousands of citizens gathered for a massive peace demonstration. On the podium, Rabin, looking shy and wearing glasses, sang the famous peace song, “Shiru, Shir Lashalom,” into the microphone. He was deeply moved. After thunderous applause, Rabin addressed the crowd:
“This gathering is clear proof that the vast majority of the people truly desire peace and are ready to take risks to achieve it,” he declared emphatically. Then, redder than ever, his arm outstretched, he asserted: “This people is against violence! Violence undermines the foundations of our democracy and therefore must be condemned and outlawed! Let’s stop this vicious cycle! Let’s all put an end to the violence of extremists!”
Thirty years later, the violence persists, and extremists dictate the agenda. It is time to put an end to the divisions by wisely returning to reason and seriously considering the future of our children.
Thirty years ago, former U.S. President Bill Clinton pressured Rabin to sign the Oslo Accords despite Rabin’s numerous reservations. Rabin knew perfectly well that the agreements, hastily signed with the PLO, would sooner or later be flouted by Arafat and his successors. The Chief of Staff of the Six-Day War lost his life brutally, assassinated by a cowardly Jewish fanatic.
The gravity of the Oslo Accords lies in the naiveté of the leaders of the time, particularly Peres and Clinton. Foolishly abandoning the serious process of the Madrid Peace Conference, they believed that with these new agreements, the page had been turned on the Palestinians and that the Middle East had finally changed. Yet, they knew that Arafat had come from Tunis with his troops and notorious terrorists. Welcomed in Gaza and Jericho like a triumphant hero, he established himself on our doorstep, contemplating the gradual conquest of all of Palestine.
Manipulative and cunning like a wily old fox, he launched his deadly Intifada and allowed Hamas to carry out suicide bombings. The justification for welcoming Arafat to the White House by an American president, and then daring to award a terrorist leader the Nobel Peace Prize, eclipsed the reality on the ground and plunged Israelis into insecurity, anxiety, and despair.
