Saturday's Rabin memorial rally
Photo: Yaron Brener
The late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
Photo: Zoom 77
Who needs Rabin rally?
Traditional Rabin rally in Tel Aviv does nothing to promote Leftist ideas
On top of all the difficulties, objections, and debates it must overcome, the traditional Tel Aviv rally in memory of Yitzhak Rabin faces a terrible paradox: The larger and more successful it is in the view of its organizers, the more hollow and insignificant it is, as it exposes the great weakness of the Israeli Left, which exists at least in the dictionary.
In that same dictionary, the rally at Rabin square deserves the following definition: A public show of support for the commandment “thou shalt not murder.” It is indeed a matter of some public importance, but nothing beyond it. The rally is no more than a slogan-filled ceremony with little significance espousing obvious values that any sane person would endorse, sort of like a similar ceremony at school. It is no wonder that even some rightist hawks like Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar are able to attend it.
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If there is even such thing as “Rabin’s legacy” (a question worthy of some consideration, because Rabin was a prominent leader who at a late age in his life signed peace agreements, yet did not truly espouse an ideological, original, and orderly agenda.) Hence, a rally in his memory is not the place for representing the legacy of peace and its price.
An acquaintance of mine holding rightist views recently made the following claim: The Israeli leftist camp today does nothing, boasts no achievements, and doesn’t really exist. Hence, it is preoccupied with rallies and weeping, because other than that it has been left with nothing.
Immediately after I was done with becoming outraged and rejecting this provocation, I came up with a wise insight. The tearful rallies are the fig leaf serving to hide the inaction of the “New Left,” the camp that votes for Kadima and fails to see what’s strange about that. It’s an embarrassing catharsis where one’s political conscience is washed with tears.
More courageous statement needed
So hello to you, new leftists. You want to go to Rabin Square and weep alongside all sorts of other people? There is nothing wrong with that, and if it makes you feel better, by all means do it. Just don’t convince yourself – and certainly don’t try to convince me – that by doing so you promote your diplomatic, social, or economic way.Your struggle, assuming that you are truly interested in engaging in it, is being waged at other sites for the purpose of achieving other goals. There’s nothing new there: An end for the occupation, human rights, equality, and social justice. It’s a little amusing to see you looking for the solution at the square.
In future years, so that the Rabin rally will carry more weight than that of a civics class at school or a Scouts session, you would do well to dedicate it not only to Rabin the man, but mostly to the last road he took. The path of peace. Indeed, the rally’s rating shall drop the more courageous and focused the statement it makes. Fewer participants will find their natural place there, but the rally’s value will grow amazingly.
Only then, maybe, it would be able to do something for the future, rather than merely weeping for what happened in the past.
