31 years after Rabin’s assassination, President Herzog outraged at calls to release his killer
In his speech in Jerusalem, Herzog notably condemned a poster seen on the highway connecting Tel Aviv to the capital, calling for the release of Yigal Amir.
On Thursday, Israel remembered the 31st anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was shot on November 4, 1995, in Tel Aviv by Yigal Amir, an extremist opposed to the Oslo peace accords.
Memorial ceremonies were held across Israel, including at Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv and other official tributes in Jerusalem. One of those memorials was held at the presidential residence and on Mount Herzl.
At the residence, President Isaac Herzog spoke and issued a warning against the trivialization of political violence. During his speech in Jerusalem, Herzog notably denounced a poster seen on the highway connecting Tel Aviv to the capital, calling for the release of Yigal Amir.
The head of state expressed outrage that such a call could appear in the public space without prompting an immediate reaction. He reaffirmed that Rabin's assassin must remain in prison for the rest of his life, with no possibility of pardon or sentence reduction.
Herzog also denounced the death threats that still target Israeli political leaders today, particularly on social media. Thirty-one years after the three bullets that shook Israel, his message is unambiguous: political disagreements must never be settled by violence.
Notably absent from the memorial was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.