Citing Rabin’s legacy to an estimated 150,000 at memorial rally, Eisenkot calls for state inquiry into Oct. 7 failures, universal conscription

Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot calls for national accountability and unity at a rally in Tel Aviv marking 30 years since the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, warning that “polarization and incitement” continue to endanger Israeli society.

“Rabin stood at the most pivotal crossroads in Israel’s history — a true Mr. Security, the kind of leader Israel yearns for today,” Eisenkot says, addressing an estimated 150,000 attendees in Rabin Square and the surrounding streets. “Those were different days, when leaders took responsibility — in words and in deeds. Responsibility — that’s what Israel yearns for today.”

Eisenkot urges the government to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7 attack and to pass “a universal conscription law,” saying, “The soldiers have done and continue to do their duty. Now we must do ours.”

“Rabin’s assassination was the direct result of polarization and incitement,” he adds. “Thirty years later, the same warning light still flashes before us — a divisive discourse built on lies and self-serving interests.”

Concluding his remarks, Eisenkot says, “Our people know how to rise — and we will rise again. We will bring change, we will mend, and we will heal. It is possible, and it is in our hands.”