‘Words kill’: Herzog pleads for civility ahead of election at Rabin memorial ceremony

President Isaac Herzog took the podium Thursday at a state memorial service for Yitzhak Rabin to warn that the incitement that led to the late premier’s 1995 assassination is still present in Israeli society ahead of Tuesday’s election.

“I stand here and say: Words kill,” Herzog said in an address at the memorial service at the President’s Residence. “Therefore, candidates, leaders, pundits and commentators should all speak with care.”

He added: “I ask all of the candidates from all of the parties, camps and positions, and all citizens to bear in mind Rabin’s last words, which served as his last will and testament: ‘Violence erodes the foundation of Israeli democracy.'”

The memorial at Herzog’s residence, followed by a state ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery, marked 31 years since Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by far-right Jewish extremist Yigal Amir after attending a mass peace rally in Tel Aviv’s Kings of Israel Square — since renamed Rabin Square. The rally was called amid threats to Rabin’s life in order to highlight opposition to violence and showcase public support for his efforts to negotiate peace with the Palestinians.

In his speech, Herzog also vowed never to release Amir from his life sentence in prison, despite calls for clemency from the far right. Herzog is set to serve as president until mid-2028, after which pardon powers will move to his successor.

Herzog recalled a roadside sign he said he saw on Route 1 from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem calling for Amir’s release.

“The very possibility that such a call could appear in a public space and be met with a shrug should keep us awake at night,” he said, insisting that “the murderer must never be released. He must spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Thursday marks the anniversary of the November 4, 1995, assassination on the Hebrew calendar. The date this year came five days before the October 27 Knesset election, which follows a bitter and heated campaign. Herzog has repeatedly warned against political violence during the race.

“Thirty-one years after the horrific murder, there are still people in Israel who dare to utter — and type on their keyboards — appalling threats to murder elected officials, from the prime minister to ministers, members of Knesset and political leaders,” Herzog said. “There is no place for political violence in a civilized country. There is no place for violence, period.”

Dalia Rabin, the late prime minister’s daughter and a former politician, called for officials to take responsibility for the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, and to investigate it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not taken responsibility for the failures surrounding the attack and has resisted calls for a state commission of inquiry into the onslaught.

“We’re in a difficult, painful and complex period, on the eve of an election, licking our war wounds, the future unclear,” she said, according to reports in Hebrew media. “I take it upon myself to speak with decency, with a demand to seriously investigate, and by the same token, to glean lessons and take responsibility. Yitzhak Rabin knew how to take responsibility for every move, and so he taught us.”

Netanyahu absent from Mount Herzl ceremony; Zamir, Zini attend

Rabin, born in 1922, was a senior officer in the nascent Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 War of Independence, then rose to become the military’s chief of staff during the 1967 Six Day War. He served as prime minister from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1992 until he was assassinated.

His second term is best known for the 1993 Oslo Accords, which kicked off the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, established the Palestinian Authority and saw the IDF withdraw from parts of the West Bank and Gaza.

Amir was an extremist opponent of the Oslo process. Rabin is the only prime minister in Israel’s history to be assassinated.

At the ceremony at Mount Herzl, where Rabin and his wife Leah are buried, several senior officials were in attendance, though not Netanyahu, who hasn’t attended the ceremony since 2019. Netanyahu was leader of the opposition at the time of Rabin’s assassination, and critics have blamed him for contributing to the incitement that led to the killing. Netanyahu has vehemently denied those accusations.

In attendance on Thursday were Herzog, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, Police Commissioner Danny Levy, and Shin Bet Chief David Zini. Gadi Eisenkot, the leading opposition candidate, attended, as did Yair Golan, who leads the Democrats, a successor party to Rabin’s Labor.

Also participating in the ceremony were Rabin’s great-grandchildren.

Golan: PM ‘creating the conditions for the next Yigal Amir’

At another ceremony at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, where the assassination took place, Golan accused Netanyahu of creating the conditions for another political assassination.

“Horrifyingly, 31 years after Rabin’s assassination, the same inciting prime minister is today creating the conditions for the next Yigal Amir,” Golan said during the wreath-laying ceremony there.

“We will rise again and rebuild Israel in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence,” he added, pledging to build a “free, Jewish, egalitarian and democratic state.”

Golan himself has faced a wave of death threats in recent months, prompting his party to petition the High Court of Justice for state-provided security. The petition cited dozens of threats against him and his family, including calls for him to take “a bullet to the head” and for his family to be hanged.