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“Our
hands are shaking. Our hearts are breaking.”
– Aharon Hamamy, gravedigger |
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IN
A HERO'S WAKE - The assassination
of Yitzhak Rabin sent shockwaves
through Israel and the world, as
news of his murder spread like a
creeping paralysis. While some right-wingers
rejoiced and crowed “Rabin
is dead” in the streets of
Tel Aviv, the majority of Israelis
were hit with numbing disbelief
at the news. Even at the height
of the vehement opposition to Rabin
and the Oslo accords he symbolized,
few had ever imagined that Jew could
kill Jew, let alone for the sake
of petty religious ideology. Rabin’s
death would leave bitter questions
and painful answers regarding the
condition of Israel and its people;
but first and foremost, they had
to say goodbye.
 “I
never thought that the moment would
come like this, when I would grieve
the loss of a brother, a colleague
and a friend, a man and a soldier
who met us on the opposite side
of a divide, who we respected as
he respected us. A man I came to
know because I realized, as he did,
that we had to cross over the divide
… You lived as a soldier,
you died as a soldier for peace.
Let’s not keep silent. Let
our voices rise high to speak of
our commitment to peace for all
times to come, and let us tell those
who live in darkness, who are the
enemies of light: This is where
we stand. This is our camp.”
On
November 6th, Yitzhak Rabin was
laid in rest in the Israeli national
cemetery atop Jerusalem’s
Mount Herzl. His funeral was attended
by dignitaries from more than eighty
countries, with Jordan’s King
Hussein and Egypt’s Hosni
Mubarak foremost among them. Yasser
Arafat, Rabin’s partner in
peace, was the only one excluded.
Even with the outpouring of love
for the fallen prime minister, Arafat
was still too controversial and
potentially divisive to Israelis
who badly needed healing and solitude.
Senior PLO officials were sent instead,
while Arafat made a personal visit
to Leah Rabin’s home to give
his condolences. Even without his
presence, Rabin’s funeral
was an image of stunning power –
Arab leaders standing in the heart
of Israel, weeping before the grave
of a man who had fought them on
the battlefield so many decades
ago, only to stun them years later
with his drive for peace.. From
the eleven eulogies given, emerged
some of the most stunningly heartfelt
words the world had ever heard for
a fallen leader.
“Your
prime minister was a martyr for
peace, but he was a victim of hate.
Surely, we must learn from his martyrdom
that if people cannot let go of
the hatred of their enemies, they
risk sowing the seeds of hatred
among themselves. I ask you, the
people of Israel, on behalf of my
own nation, that knows its own long
litany of loss from Abraham Lincoln
to President Kennedy to Martin Luther
King, do not let that happen to
you. In the Knesset, in your homes,
in your places of worship, stay
the righteous course. And if you
stay that course, neither will America
forsake you. May our hearts find
a measure of comfort, and our souls
the eternal touch of hope.”
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World
leaders unite in mourning |
For
Hussein, whose grandfather had been
killed before his eyes decades ago,
or U.S. President Bill Clinton,
who had grown up in the shadow of
John F. Kennedy’s murder,
the memory of anguish gave their
words the wisdom flowing from experience.
But it was the tearful address given
by Rabin’s granddaughter,
Noa Ben-Artzi, that most stunned
Israel and the onlooking world.
Her eulogy was not that of a diplomat
in mourning, but of a grieving young
woman standing before her grandfather’s
casket. In many ways her words,
with those of Hussein and Clinton,
became the voice of Israel and the
world.
“Grandfather,
you were, and still are, our hero.
I want you to know that in all I
have ever done, I have always seen
you before my eyes. Your esteem
and love accompanied us in every
step and on every path, and we lived
in the light of your values. You
never neglected anyone. And now
you have been neglected –
you, my eternal hero – cold
and lonely … I part from you,
a hero, and ask that you rest in
peace, that you think about us and
miss us, because we here, down below,
love you so much. To the angels
in heaven that are accompanying
you now, I ask that they watch over
you, that they guard you well. Because
you deserve such a guard. We will
love you, Grandpa, always.”
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