Rabin Gains Sympathy

Premier Yitzhak Rabin’s decision to step down has, para- doxically, created a wave of public sympathy he had never known before. Some hours after he made his announcement Uri Zohar, the popular star of theater, film and television set up a table on Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv urging citizens to sign a petition calling on Rabin to reverse his decision. Hundreds of petitions were received at President Ephraim Katzir’s residence Friday calling upon him to pardon Rabin even before he was tried.

Rabin and his wife were greeted with a long, standing ovation last night when they arrived at the concert hall of Kibbutz Ein Gev on Lake Galilee for a jubilee ceremony of the kibbutzim movement. Education Minister Aharon Yadlin greeted the couple with a handshake and kisses. Mapam leader Yaacov Hazan told Rabin, in front of the audience, that the recent events not only did not change his attitude toward Rabin but deepened his belief in him.

In other reactions in Israel, Ezer Weizman, Likud election campaign chief, said: “The Likud now has better prospects to form the next government. The long reign of the Alignment caused degeneration from top to bottom.” Dr. Yosef Burg, leader of the National Religious Party, stated: “This is a bitter end to a military and public career which had periods of splendor and success.”

Prof. Yigal Yadin’s Democratic Movement for Change, said: “The shock and the confusion caused by this affair make it mandatory for the DMC to prepare itself intensively to assume responsibility to lead the country and rehabilitate the Israeli society.” Uri Avneri, head of Haolam Hazeh, said Rabin’s act “deserves to be appreciated and followed. It is sad that a political career such as his should end this way.”

U.S. JEWISH LEADERS REACT

Reactions in the American Jewish community ran a similar gamut of feelings. Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said “We are saddened by the recent events and we express compassion for Yitzhak Rabin as a person. The cause of Israel transcends the fate of any one man or woman. We remain dedicated to the concept of a Jewish State and to the cause of peace in the Middle East.”

Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz, president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis, urged that Rabin’s resignation “should be rejected.” As the “architect of the victory of 1967, and that of Entebbe, who represented his country with skill and dignity, who helped us to see the road to peace, he should not be driven from office by a regrettable, but admitted, and relatively minor misdeed hardly commensurate with the greatness of his achievement in statesmanship.”

Sam Rothberg, general chairman of the Israel Bond Organization, declared that “events in Israel during the past week will not affect our determination to devote our fullest moral and material resources to the attainment of an economically sound and secure Israel. As Israel prepares to celebrate the 29th anniversary of its independence we are confident that its people will continue to build and develop a country that has made the Jewish people proud of its massive achievements.”

Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, president of the American Jewish Congress, said “We deeply regret that so distinguished a career should end in so tragic a set of circumstances.” Rabin “has done the decent thing by resigning. Let us hope that an unfortunate period in Israel’s history is over….The powerful commitment we share to the idea of a Jewish State and to the security of the people of that State is based not on loyalty to any individual political leader or political party (but) in our love for the Jewish people.”