As
he commanded forces in the Israeli
Palmach citizen militia, during
the intense battles surrounding
Israel’s formation, Yitzhak
Rabin would not have suspected that
in the decades ahead he would rise
stratospherically – from being
an ordinary general, to a leader
and statesman who would see through
many more battles in many different
arenas during the coming years.
His
first came in 1967 when, as Defense
Minister, he was handed the responsibility
of ordering Israeli military action
against heavy Egyptian/Arab opposition
in what would come to be known as
the Six-Day War. Although he was
a lifelong soldier at heart, Rabin
was torn by the brutal necessity
of task. The costs of the war were
expected to be so high, in fact,
that Israeli landscapers had already
reserved large parcels of land for
graveyards in place of homes or
settlements. Rabin finally decided
on an overwhelming and decisive
first strike against the encroaching
enemy, which crippled the Egyptian
air force and virtually stalled
all offensive actions against Israel.
The practically unopposed Israeli
ground forces went on to capture
several territories whose political
implications Rabin immediately recognized
as potential trouble. These included
the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and the
Golan Heights. All of these were
highly strategic areas, and while
Rabin kept paramount the security
of Israel, he was pragmatic enough
to know even then that they would
eventually cause more trouble than
help. Though triumphant in victory,
Rabin’s deep reservations
about war and its costs in human
life would stay with him for many
years, culminating decades later
in his acceptance speech for the
Nobel Peace Prize. The next decade
was no easier for Rabin or Israel
in the whole. In 1972 a group of
Israeli athletes were held hostage
by Palestinian gunmen at the Summer
Olympic games in Munich, Germany
; subsequently, most of them were
killed when an attempt to rescue
them was botched. 1973 saw Israel
caught off-guard by the Yom Kippur
War, which caused the pain and harsh
reality which had been minimized
in 1967. Three years later in 1976,
Rabin helped draw up and order the
successful raid by Israeli commandos
on a civilian airliner hijacked
by Palestinians in Entebbe, Uganda.
During this time he also encountered
problems stemming from his stoic
and notoriously blunt personality,
which caused considerable friction
in his dealings with American Jews
who he felt were self-importantly
meddling in Israel’s affairs.
To Rabin, the attempts of powerful
Jewish lobbying groups on Capitol
Hill to favorably influence US policy
was a profound irritation. Several
times, public relations near-catastrophes
occurred when Rabin uttered some
carelessly unvarnished thought about
his feelings that the American Jewish
lobby was irrelevant and disconnected
in regards to Israel. It was more
a testament to his personality than
anything else ; Israelis at home
were for the most part amused by
the outcry Rabin tended to provoke
among Jews abroad. However, quieter
and more radical elements within
American Jewry saw less humor in
these events. The seeds of antagonism
against Rabin had been planted ;
with the rise of right-wing extremists
in the 1990s, it would take an ominous
turn.
<Making
History>
