Tonight at Rabin Square, 11 years after

This time I’m going to an event related with the name behind the square. It used to be “Israel’s Kings Square”, until exactly 11 years ago.

I think that every Israeli remembers where he’s been on November 4th, 1995. I’ve been there in the peace rally where PM Rabin was murdered. The rally took place after a long time of protests from right wing movements against Rabin and his policy. The Oslo accords brought lots of aggrevation with them. The rally’s slogan was “Peace – Yes, Violence – No”. I was so happy to see the peace camp finally in the streets, after all the hatred of the previous months.

It didn’t last too long. After the rally ended, I was walking towards a bus station. Policemen told me that I couldn’t get through. I took another direction, and the rumors began coming around. I finally took a taxi, and the rumors became a news report, Rabin was shot and he is badly wounded. It didn’t seem real to me. I arrived to the people I was staying at, and evryone was already watching television anxiously. A few minutes later, we heard the official statement that Rabin died. The people on TV looked shocked exactly like ourseleves. We didn’t speak to each other, but just stared at the television for another hour or two.

Tonight, November 4th is again on Saturday night. I’ll find myself again in the same square, lke every year. Last year, a decade after. we had Bill Clinton as a special guest. I don’t know what the program is for tonight.

Me and some of my friends have been complaining about the annual ceremony. It is always non political, consisits mostly of sad songs, and remembering how Rabin was a good grandfather. For this kind of ritual we have an official ceremony, with the heads of the state, beside his grave in Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv, in the place where the prime minister was murdered for political reasons, I would surely expect a political rally, reminding everybody that it was a political murder, from a man who opposed Rabin’s path for peace.

Anyway, I’ll be there, at around 19:30 – 20:00. If someone reads this by chance and wants to say hello, I’ll be by “Discount Bank” on the corner of Ibn Gvirol and David Hamelech.