Gantz to headline Yitzhak Rabin memorial rally in Tel Aviv on November 2

In March, Blue and White leader accused Netanyahu of incitement that led to assassination; now, as premier-designate, he is seeking government with Likud

By ToI Staff 24 October 2019, 9:46 pm

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Blue and White leader Benny Gantz speaks after being tasked with forming a new government, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on October 23, 2019. (Gali Tibbon/AFP)

Benny Gantz, the Blue and White leader and prime minister-designate, will be the keynote speaker at the Tel Aviv rally marking the 24th anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin next Saturday night.

Rabin was murdered on November 4, 1995, by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir, who was opposed to the Oslo Accords and the handing over of control of portions of the West Bank to the Palestinians as part of the landmark peace agreement.

The anniversary rally at Rabin’s square, the site of the prime minister’s murder, draws tens of thousands each year.

The centrist leader will address the crowd on November 2, amid long-shot coalition negotiations to form a government under his leadership.

Israelis attend a rally marking 22 years since the assassination of prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on November 4, 2017. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The former army chief of staff was tasked Wednesday by President Reuven Rivlin with cobbling together a coalition by November 20, after Netanyahu earlier this week announced he had failed to do so. Accepting the task, Gantz invited Netanyahu into his coalition.

The two leaders are expected to meet next week, but Gantz’s chances of succeeding are seen as slim, with Likud negotiating on behalf of a 55-member bloc of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties without which it will not enter a government, a precondition rejected outright by Blue and White.

The president has proposed a power-sharing deal between Likud and Blue and White that would see the two leaders rotate the premiership, but it has remained elusive over disagreements over who would be prime minister first.

Should Gantz fail after Netanyahu, another lawmaker could be nominated by Knesset members to attempt to form a coalition, or Israel could face its unprecedented third round of elections in under a year.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (L), US President Bill Clinton and King Hussein of Jordan at the White House, July 25, 1994. (Saar Yaacov/GPO)

In March, ahead of the April elections, Gantz accused Netanyahu of being involved in the incitement to violence that led to the 1995 assassination of Rabin.

In the weeks before the assassination, Netanyahu, then head of the opposition, and other senior Likud members attended a right-wing political rally in Jerusalem where protesters branded Rabin a “traitor,” “murderer” and “Nazi” for signing a peace agreement with the Palestinians earlier that year.

Netanyahu has regularly rebuffed the allegations that he ignored inflammatory rhetoric that incited to Rabin’s murder and characterized the accusations as a form of “political assassination.”

“Remember, things have already occurred in Israel, in which unfortunately, Mr. Netanyahu was on stage, and walking behind a coffin in another place,” Gantz told Channel 12’s “Meet the Press” program in March. “We’ve seen how exaggerating things like this ends.”