November 4, 1995
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who played a prominent role in virtually all of Israel’s history, is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv by Yigal Amir, an Israeli settler opposed to the Oslo Accords. Rabin was the fifth prime minister of Israel, serving two terms, from 1974 to 1977 and from 1992 until his death.
Born in Mandatory Palestine and serving in the pre-state Palmach, Rabin was a commander in the 1948 war, in which he led the defense of Jerusalem. He was the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of Staff during the Six-Day War and served as the ambassador to the United States when Golda Meir was prime minister.
Returning to Israel in 1973, Rabin was elected to the Knesset and serves as the labor minister. When Meir resigned in 1974, Rabin became Israel’s first native-born prime minister. His meeting with Jimmy Carter in March 1977 is considered by Americans and Israelis alike as the worst meeting between an Israeli prime minister and American president to that time. Rabin resigned that spring because his wife, Leah, violated a law against holding a foreign bank account.
He again assumed leadership of the Labor Party in 1992 and again became prime minister. Members of the Rabin government entered into secret negotiations with the PLO that resulted in the Oslo Accords in 1993. Rabin then forged a peace treaty with King Hussein and Jordan in 1994. Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat were jointly awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East.”
