In newly released 1974 recording, Rabin pushes for diplomacy alongside military power
On Hebrew anniversary of assassination, Defense Ministry releases audio from IDF meeting in which late PM says calm cannot be achieved through war alone
In a 1974 recording released for the first time on Wednesday, Yitzhak Rabin, the assassinated general-turned-statesman, is heard saying that peace can only be achieved with Israel’s enemies through a combination of military power and political negotiations.
The remarks, made during a meeting of the Israel Defense Forces’ General Staff, resonated with today’s discussions of how to resolve the ongoing war against Iran and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and elsewhere.
The recording, which runs some 30 minutes, was published by the Defense Ministry’s IDF Archive to mark the 29th anniversary of Rabin’s assassination, on the country’s official memorial day for the late prime minister according to the Hebrew calendar.
“In the Arab-Israeli conflict, I don’t see a way to arrive at a solution through military means,” Rabin said in the meeting. “If there is any chance, and I’m not sure there is, to arrive at a solution to the conflict, it is only by way of political negotiations.”
He added, however, that “political negotiations must also rely on military power, because without military power, there will be no political negotiations at all.”
The discussion took place shortly after the Yom Kippur War, during Rabin’s first term as prime minister. The country was still years away from signing its first peace treaty with an Arab neighbor, and decades away from the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, signed in 1993 after Rabin returned to the premiership.
The recording was published some thirteen months after the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023 terror onslaught started an ongoing war, and as Israel seeks to free 101 hostages, living and dead, from the terror group’s captivity in Gaza.
Conflict over how to resolve the ongoing war has riven Israel, with weekly protests demanding a hostage-ceasefire deal to secure the captives’ release, met with insistence by parts of the political echelon that only military pressure will bring the return of the hostages and assure Israel’s security going forward.
In the recording, the IDF brass discuss the possibility of territorial concessions in exchange for peace — the model adopted in negotiations with Egypt several years later, as well as ultimately with the Palestinians, through the two-state solution framework on which Oslo, which was never fully realized, was based.
“There’s nothing to give up. The Arabs’ aspiration is not to make peace with us, but to destroy the state,” says General Rafael Eitan, who later became the IDF chief of staff, though his further comments are less absolute.
“The only place we could compromise a little is Sinai,” he says, referring to the desert peninsula that Israel captured from Egypt during the Six Day War, and would later return as part of a peace accord.
“If the Syrians today were ready for true peace, I would personally return the Golan Heights to them,” Eitan says, in addition. The Golan Heights remain a part of Israel more than fifty years later having been annexed, as the relationship with Syria remains hostile.
In the recording, Rabin stresses his belief that in the long term, peace is a necessity, but says it’s not a possibility in the immediate future, and he rejects, for that time, the possibility of a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
“I don’t believe it’s possible today to arrive at negotiations on a general agreement, on peace. First of all, the Arabs don’t want to. It’s not just about ‘67, it’s also about a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria” — a Biblical term for the West Bank used by Israelis — “and this is the immediate explosive charge for the next war,” he says.
“In terms of the Arab reality and the international reality, I don’t believe the current situation can continue for a long time. There are two options: war, or some slim chance to get to some sort of an agreement.”
Rabin advocates avoiding war as much as possible, “so long as we don’t have to pay a cost that endangers us too greatly.”
In the recording, Rabin and the other members of the forum also address the burden placed on reserve soldiers — a matter that is even more relevant today, as reservists mark unprecedented durations of service amid the war, while the coalition appears to hinge on the matter of exempting ultra-Orthodox men from the draft.
“When you look at this issue ten years from now, you encounter a shortage of 50,000 men. I want to tell you, a hundred days of reserve duty in a year and a half will exhaust the nation,” warns General Avraham Tamir.
Shimon Peres, who who would later serve as prime minister, adds: “There have been periods in which we’ve enlisted the nation, but there has never been a period like the one from October ‘73 until today,” noting, “there are people who have been in reserve duty more than 200 days — when has that ever happened in this country?”
Since the Hamas attack in October 2023, some reservists have served more than 300 days. A sharp drop has been seen recently in the number of those reporting for duty, amid burnout after so much time serving.
“I think the atmosphere, the order, the feeling of purpose of reservists — this, more than anything else, is what gives the nation confidence in the army,” Rabin says.
משרד הביטחון פירסם הקלטה של יצחק רבין שלא נחשפה מעולם. בהקלטה רבין נשמע אומר: "בסכסוך הערבי-ישראלי, אני לא רואה אפשרות להגיע לפתרון על ידי אמצעים צבאיים. אם בכלל יש סיכוי, זה רק בדרך של משא ומתן מדיני" עוד אמר: "מדינה פלסטינית ביו"ש זה חומר נפץ". הארכיון פירסם גם צילום וידאו נדיר… pic.twitter.com/5KDU14BUgt
— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) November 13, 2024
In addition to the recording from the General Staff meeting, the Defense Ministry released video of a speech by Rabin at a memorial day ceremony in 1988, stressing the feeling of unity among those who gather to remember fallen loved ones.
“What brings us here, aside from the desire to remember, and to make others remember? What brings us here is the desire to be together,” Rabin says in the speech, referring to “the big family with no parties, rivalries, or disputes.”
The government also held an official memorial ceremony on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of Rabin’s killing, attended by President Isaac Herzog and various senior officials.
Also attending was Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister, whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired from his post last week.
In accordance with a request by the late statesman’s relatives, the event did not include speeches.
Rabin’s family canceled the annual Knesset memorial ceremony as well as other events this year, citing the complicated wartime reality. The family reportedly wanted to cancel the Mount Herzl ceremony as well, but was unable to, as it is mandated by the law establishing the official memorial day.
“Now is not the time for large ceremonies,” Rabin’s daughter Dalia wrote in her request to cancel the Knesset event, according to Ynet.
Rabin, a Labor prime minister, was assassinated on November 4, 1995, by right-wing extremist Yigal Amir following a mass peace rally in Tel Aviv that was called to highlight opposition to violence and to showcase public support for the prime minister’s efforts to negotiate with the Palestinians.
