Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on Saturday night, the 4 th of November. The changing of thisdate with some day of the month of Heshwan, according to the “Jewish” calendar, is afalsification.
Rabin was an atheist. He had nothing to do with the religious calendar. Not to mention the factthat the “Jewish” calendar is really a Babylonian one, and that its months carry the names ofBabylonian gods. Why is the name of a Babylonian god like Tamuz more admissible than the name ofa Roman colleague of his, Mars?
This is not an a propos remark. The transfer of the tragic date to the religious calendar is apart of the process that led Ehud Barak and the whole crowd of dignitaries at the graveside toput a Kippah on their heads. Why? Ben Gurion refused to use a Kippah even at funerals, and thatseemed quite natural at the time. I categorically refuse to wear a Kippah at a state ceremony inmemory of an atheist Prime Minister who was murdered by a Kippah-wearing fanatic after a longcampaign of sedition by a Kippah-wearing gang of rabbies. Most of the leaders of theKippah-wearing public did not participate in the day of mourning and rejected it outright.Why, then, did the Rabin family agree to this, if indeed it did agree?
This aspect of the official mourning was only a part of the ongoing change in the image of Rabin.He is undergoing a kind of post mortem operation that is changing his form. The mythologicalRabin starts to look more and more like a catholic saint. It struck me when, on the officialmemorial day, I entered the local post office and saw a candle burning on an altar-like tableunder his official portrait.
This was a part of the deluge of kitsch , sweet mourning and false eulogies that swept us on thefalse anniversary date. I am all for an official date of mourning, but only if it is for the realRabin.
The Rabin I knew, with whom I had a lot of disputes and whom I liked very much was an introverted,rough-edged, complex and self-doubting person. He was not a peace-seeker from birth. He waseducated to see Arabs as murderers and rioters. At the beginning of the intifadah he ordered tobreak their bones – an order that was in many cases followed to the letter.
This Rabin opted for peace after a long and hard inner struggle. I followed this fight, becauseI discussed the Palestinian issue with him many times for 26 years. (Some of these discussionsI published during his life-time, and he did not dispute their authenticity.) Step after stephe neared the act that turned him into a historical figure: The recognition of the Palestinianpeople and its national movement. When he signed the agreement, he knew that it will lead to aPalestinian state. There can be no doubt about that: Already in 1976, when he was PrimeMinister for the first time, he told me that “the first step towards the Palestinians willinevitably lead to a Palestinian state, and I don’t want that.”
At the age of 70, Rabin changed his entire mental world. Intellectually, ideologically andemotionally he started on a completely new road. After the first, hesitant handshake withArafat, he internalized peace more and more, far beyond the written agreements. In his verylast speech in the Knesset, while introducing yet another agreement with the Palestinians,he said “We did not come to an empty country”, thereby become the father of the “newhistorians”.
This Rabin is fading from memory, in favor of a dull and shallow figure. The rough-edgedperson, who did not shrink from controversy and who sacrificed his life in the struggle forpeace, became after his death the patron-saint of “internal dialogue”, “mutualunderstanding” and “peace within the nation”, meaning giving up peace with the Arabs and thesecular agenda in favor of a sticky brew of empty slogans. His controversial, historic act -the declaration of principles with Arafat – is almost eradicated, and its place is taken overby a nearly insignificant but consensual accomplishment – the peace with Hussein.
I protest. I want the real Rabin back, the Rabin who called the settlers “propellers” (hereally meant “ventilators”, an instrument that turns around itself, making noise and notproducing anything.) The Rabin who said “I am ready to obtain a visa for going to Gush Etzion”(near Hebron). The Rabin who said “We did not come to an empty country”. I hope that we shallremember this Rabin, and only him, without Kippah and nonsense, on the real anniversary day,November 4.