At Rabin memorial, Netanyahu denies being silent when late PM was called traitor

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes out on the defensive at the state memorial ceremony for prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, pushing back on allegations he did not speak out forcibly enough against right-wing criticism ahead of the late premier’s assassination.

“In the years since the murder I’ve heard the false claim that when a fanatical member of the [national] camp who opposed Oslo called Rabin a traitor, I stood on the side, was silent and even supportive. I’ve heard this at almost every memorial but this lie which has been repeated many times doesn’t become the truth,” Netanyahu says at the ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery.

Speaking before Netanyahu, President Rivlin warned of the potential for renewed political violence.

“The fear of another political murder, and the hope this murder won’t happen, does not belong to one camp or another. This is a shared fear by all of us,” the president says.