We should become Rabin for a moment and put things honestly on the table
Photo: Sa'ar Ya'akov, GPO
Yariv Oppenheimer
Not a political murder?
Op-ed: The NGO law, the proposal to revoke B’Tselem director's citizenship, the campaign against left-wing organizations and the battle against the ‘leftist’ media are a direct continuation of the incitement that led to the Rabin murder.
The goal of a memorial day is not to cry together, to speak nicely to one another and to pat each other on the back. The goal of a memorial day is to remind and to warn, so that a similar case of a political murder will not repeat itself.
When we talk about Yitzhak Rabin’s murder we must remember that he was a prime minister here who launched a historic peace process with the Palestinians, with the Jordanians and with the rest of the Arab states.
There is room for everyone in the Rabin Memorial Day, as long as those who opposed him acknowledge the real problem in their political camp (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
That there was a right-wing camp here which lost control in its battle against Rabin and his government.
That there was an opposition leader here named Benjamin Netanyahu, who sent young Likud members to stand outside Leah and Yitzhak Rabin’s house every Friday afternoon.
That there were rabbis and religious leaders here who issued a “Din Moser” (“law of the informer,” which prescribes death for the offender).
That the word “traitor” became a right-wing phrase against leftists.
That there was a Kahane Chai member here who tore the emblem from Rabin’s car and no one cared.
That there was incitement here which only ended the moment the goal was achieved – Rabin was murdered, along with peace.
We must remember and remind people about everything, not through euphemistic language, not through sad songs, not though flattery and not through fear.
The Rabin memorial day does not belong to the Left. There is room for everyone in it, even for those who opposed Rabin’s political path, as long as they acknowledge the real problem in the political camp they belong to.
The right has not kicked off the habit to present anyone who opposes its way as anti-patriot, a foreign agent, a traitor or an enemy. On the contrary, this is only increasing in the past few years, and now Facebook statuses of left-wing journalists have become a cause for dismissal.
At least on the Rabin Memorial Day, we should become Rabin for a moment and put the things honestly on the table, without being self-righteous. The problem is not with “radicals on both sides.” There is no balance or symmetry here. The problem was and remains in the Right and in its desire to incite against the Left, to terrorize, silence and prevent freedom of speech.
The NGO law, the proposal to revoke the citizenship of B’Tselem Executive Director Hagai El-Ad, the campaign against left-wing organizations and the battle against the “leftist” media are a direct continuation of the incitement that preceded the Rabin murder.
At this rate, the next time a left-wing person is murdered here, Heaven forbid, there will be those who will say that the victim brought the murder on himself with his traitorous acts, and that it is therefore his own fault and the fault of his friends in the Left.
Yariv Oppenheimer is Peace Now’s former secretary-general and a member of the organization’s management.
