JERUSALEM (JTA) — The grandson of Yitzhak Rabin at a a memorial for the slain prime minister implored Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring peace to Israel.
“My grandfather was murdered over peace and you owe this peace to us, to all of us,” Yonatan Ben Artzi said before a crowd of some 35,000 Israelis gathered Saturday night in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.
The memorial marked the 18th anniversary of Rabin’s assassination by right-wing extremist Yigal Amir on Nov. 4, 1995, more than two years after Rabin signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians and Yasser Arafat. It was held several days before the anniversary of the murder according to the Hebrew calendar.
Held under the banner of “Remembering the murder, fighting for democracy,” the rally was organized by a diverse committee of movements and organizations. They included Dror Israel, Bnei Akiva, Hashomer Hatzair, the Student Union and several American Jewish community federations.
Participating organizations and some individual leaders signed a declaration at the rally calling for a more democratic and inclusive society.
“We will heavily admonish and denunciate, without fear, any incident of incitement and racism that stands opposed to the spirit and essence of the democratic way of life,” the declaration reads in part.
