Rabin’s Statement to the Nation

Premier Yitzhak Rabin, in his announcement late Thursday night that he has decided to step down from the Labor Party leadership, said he did not want the party to suffer from his personal lapse. He said that he was sorry that an issue such as this had ended his career as Premier, but “since I am Premier and we are on the eve of elections. I have no option but to stand down.” But Rabin declared that if his wife, Leah, is prosecuted for the illegal bank accounts he will demand that he also be prosecuted.

“I have said before that I bear jointly with my wife formal and moral responsibility and I am not ready for her to stand trial alone. I will not hide behind parliamentary immunity, and will face the issue together with her, “Rabin said.

“At any rate, I don’t deny that there was an error and an act of negligence committed here–in that we did not close the account (in 1973) as the law required. Since we saw this as an error we turned to the relevant authorities and asked to have an administrative penalty imposed on us. We submitted all the relevant details and documents, and the affair was conducted with the normal procedures.”

NEVER CONCEALED ACCOUNT’S EXISTENCE

Rabin also said: “The accounts were opened during my service as envoy in Washington. The money in them all came from that period. We never concealed the existence of the account–in fact my wife drove to the bank in an official car of the State Department’s security service. There were no deposits since we left Washington (in 1973). When the affair was first published (in mid-March) $10,000 were returned home.”

In March, 1973 when the Rabins left Washington, there had been $18,000 in the account, the Premier said. The sum of $2000 was then (publicly) mentioned in this connection. That was the sum actually in the account. The remaining $8000 was en route to Israel. There was thus some unclarity, both regarding whether there was more than one account, and as to the discrepancy in the figures.

Finance Ministry sources explained, confirming Rabin’s own unclear statements, there was $2000 in the account last month–and another $8000 in travelers checks and cash in the family’s possession. The remaining $8000 had been withdrawn and spent by Mrs. Rabin over the years since 1973 during her visits to the United States, the sources explained.

DECLARES JOINT RESPONSIBILITY

Rabin, in his announcement, stated: “The Treasury appointed a committee, which included representatives of the police–and they recommended an administrative fine. To my great regret the Attorney General has not accepted this recommendation, at least as far as concerns my wife, and in his opinion she must face a prosecution.

“I have declared in the past the responsibility (for the account) was joint, and I am not prepared for her to stand trial alone. If this is indeed the decision, I will stand trial with her and I will not hide behind parliamentary immunity…” Rabin said he himself had not made any withdrawals–but this was “irrelevant….There are no secrets between us.

“….The issue could harm the Labor Party’s ability to win the number of votes that it deserves….Therefore I have decided to hand back my mandate as party candidate for the Premiership to the Secretary General. I will also do whatever I can, within the constitutional constraints, to wind up my job as Premier.”

‘IT IS A SAD ENDING’

Continuing, Rabin declared: “It is a sad ending. I regret that something which is in my view of secondary importance has led to the decision I have taken. But I saw no alternative….

“I believe that in the three fields that I have worked–as Chief of Staff, as Ambassador to the U.S. and as Premier–I did yeoman work and I succeeded in the main task. As Commander-in-Chief I prepared the army on the eve of the Six Day War. As Premier I led the country out of the post-Yom Kippur straits into a situation facilitating diplomatic maneuvering–a situation unparalleled since the State’s inception.”

His heart was heavy, Rabin said, because he was being forced to end his task prematurely. “But I saw no possibility of entering into a conflict with the official whose function it is to supervise the enforcement of the law,” he said. In his view, the State of Israel had lost the Premier who had had a better chance than anyone to advance the cause of peace and prevent war. At the same time, he hoped his public career had not been ended. “I believe in the State of Israel….I shall find my place in it.”