Don’t remember Rabin only for the killing – Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the legacy of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin should focus on his whole lifetime of accomplishments and not just on his killing.

Speaking at the official memorial service to mark 21 years since Rabin’s assassination, Netanyahu says the “scars on the nation from the killing of a prime minister in Israel, the killing of Yitzhak Rabin, will never disappear.”

But Netanyahu dismisses concerns that Rabin’s killing and its legacy present a threat to Israel’s democracy. “Israeli democracy is very, very strong.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister's Office Jerusalem, November 13, 2016. (Emil Salman)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads the weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office Jerusalem, November 13, 2016. (Emil Salman)

“I am concerned about that the story of Yitzhak’s life will always stand the under the shadow of its tragic final moments,” says Netanyahu.

“But that’s not the whole story. Every boy and girl, even those born after the killing, need to know the whole story, all that he did,” Netanyahu says, noting his accomplishments as chief of staff in the Six Day War and as a two-time prime minister

“He did everything he could for peace, but he never for a moment took his eyes off the dangers we face,” Netanyahu says.

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