On Nov. 4, 1995, news traveled across the world that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had been shot in the back and killed by Yigal Amir. Amir was an Israeli far-right extremist who opposed the Oslo Accords, a series of agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel aimed at establishing a two-state solution.
In this month’s “Remember When,” we are reminded that the first week of November this year marks the 30th anniversary of Rabin’s assassination. Rabin’s death was still a topic in Washington Jewish Week’s Nov. 23, 1995, issue, which included an article titled “Words from Washington rabbis heard around the world.”
The article noted that now-retired Rabbi Jack Moline, an influential Conservative rabbi in the DMV who is the rabbi emeritus of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, made contributions to the eulogy that President Bill Clinton gave at Rabin’s state funeral two days after the assassination.
“Moline was surprised and pleased when Clinton used much of his suggestion in the eulogy delivered in Israel,” the article said.
Moline said he was giving a seminar at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s annual convention when he heard the news of the assassination. “I had to end the session by telling 150 people that Rabin had died,” he said.
He told President Clinton’s speechwriter that “another Isaac has been offered up.” The article said Moline found it gratifying to see that phrase used as a headline in The Washington Post the next morning.
“In some way I had a small part in offering comfort to world Jewry,” Moline said.
Excellent article. However, when the Oslo accords between Israel and the PLO were signed in September 1993, there was no explicit mention that the peace process would culminate in a Palestinian state.