The weeks and months building up to the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin saw widespread incitement against the Prime Minister. Rallies against the prime minister and peace process regularly featured screams of ‘traitor’ and ‘murderer’. This peaked at an opposition rally in Zion Square in Jerusalem, where banners from the crowd depicted Rabin in an SS officer’s uniform.

In an effort to show public support for the peace process, an enormous peace rally was held in Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv on 4 November 1995. ‘This rally must send a message to the Israeli public, to the Jewish community throughout the world, to many, many in the Arab world and throughout the entire world, that the people of Israel want peace, support peace, and for that, I thank you very much,’ were the final words of Rabin’s speech to the rally. As he left, Rabin was shot three times by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir. News of his death was met with an outpouring of shock and sadness.

This deep sense of loss was not limited to the Israel, but was felt across the world. US President Bill Clinton encapsulated the mood: ‘because words cannot express my true feelings, let me just say shalom, chaver – goodbye, friend.’ His death was mourned too by old adversaries. King Hussein of Jordan said at Rabin’s funeral: ‘I had never thought that the moment would come like this when I would grieve the loss of a brother, a colleague and a friend – a man, a soldier who met us on the opposite side of a divide whom we respected as he respected us. A man I came to know because I realized, as he did, that we have to cross over the divide, establish a dialogue, get to know each other and strive to leave for those who follow us a legacy that is worthy of them. And so we did. And so we became brethren and friends.’

Fathom has published a new eBook to mark the 20^th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, which can be downloaded here.

The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin features essays and interviews by Reuven Rivlin, Uri Dromi, Luciana Berger, Omer Bar-Lev, Michael Herzog, Sara Hirschhorn, Ronen Hoffman, Tzipi Livni, Einat Wilf, Sir Martin Gilbert and Shlomo Avineri.