Podcast Summary: "Assassinating Rabin / Killing Peace"

Podcast: History As It Happens
Host: Martin Di Caro
Guest: Dan Ephron (Executive Editor, Foreign Policy; Author of Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel)
Date: November 21, 2025

Overview

This episode explores the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and its profound, enduring impact on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the political trajectory of Israel. Featuring journalist and author Dan Ephron, who attended the rally where Rabin was killed and wrote extensively on the subject, the conversation investigates Rabin's legacy, the rise of religious-nationalist extremism, and the evolution of Israeli society and politics in the decades since. The episode weaves together personal recollections, historical analysis, and discussion of contemporary resonances.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Rabin's Place in Israeli History

• Background and Military Career

  • Rabin was a decorated military commander, chief of staff during the 1967 Six Day War.
  • Entered politics after being celebrated as a war hero; first served as Prime Minister in the 1970s, resigning after a minor scandal.
  • Became Prime Minister again in 1992, leading the Labour Party after years in the political wilderness.
  • Significantly, Rabin was the first Israeli-born prime minister in a country that venerates military leaders.
    (13:32 – 13:52)

• Views on Occupied Territories and Settlements

  • Initially regarded captured territories as potential bargaining chips for peace with Arab neighbors.
  • By late 1970s, saw settlers as "a cancer in the body of Israeli democracy" (quoting Rabin’s 1979 memoir, 15:24).
    • Opposed settlements not primarily for moral/humanitarian reasons, but for pragmatic ones—saw occupation as unsustainable and detrimental to Israel’s long-term security.
  • His position on settlements remained consistent into the 1990s.
    (15:24 – 16:33)

• Notable Quote

  • “Rabin was no fan of the settlers... He saw this situation of keeping millions of Palestinians under military rule as unsustainable.” – Dan Ephron (15:55)

2. The Oslo Peace Process and Its Enemies

• The Promise and Fragility of Oslo

  • Israelis and Palestinians shook hands on the White House lawn in 1993, launching the Oslo Accords and marking a peak of hope for peace.
  • For a brief moment, there was true enthusiasm for coexistence in Israeli society, including joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols and meetings.
    (18:36 – 19:43)

• Violence by 'Spoilers'

  • Almost immediately, “spoilers” on both sides—Jewish and Palestinian extremists—sought to undermine the process:
    • Jewish extremists: e.g., the settler Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 29 Muslims in Hebron in 1994.
    • Palestinian extremists: Hamas suicide bombings.
    • Cycle of violence eroded trust and public support for peace.
      (23:30 – 25:31)

• Key Insight

  • The Oslo process’s staged, gradual nature gave hardliners time to derail it: “A little bit of violence on both sides can really turn Israelis and Palestinians against the process.” – Dan Ephron (24:16 – 25:31)

3. Yigal Amir and the Assassination

• Profile of the Assassin

  • Yigal Amir, a religious law student, was “very religious and also very extreme” (16:51).
  • Not a settler himself but part of the religious-nationalist milieu; opposed any territorial compromise, viewing it as heresy and a violation of biblical commandments.
    • “For Igal Amir... the idea of giving up any territory to Palestinians or to other Arabs really was heresy. It went against the Bible.” – D.E. (16:51)
  • Amir obsessed over Rabin and stalked him for two years before finally shooting him at a peace rally in Tel Aviv in November 1995.
  • Sought rabbinic approval (invoking concepts such as "din rodef" and "din moser," religious justifications for killing perceived traitors), and found at least a minority of rabbis who agreed.
    (27:43 – 28:47)

• Atmosphere of Incitement

  • Hostility toward Rabin on the Israeli right reached fever pitch in 1995—rallies, posters depicting Rabin as a Nazi or in Arab garb, threats.

  • Netanyahu, then an up-and-coming Likud leader, was accused of fueling this atmosphere.
    (35:20 – 35:56)

  • Notable Quote

    • “It certainly includes some of the things that he [Netanyahu] said about Rabin, against Rabin in that period. But Amir... I don't think he needed to hear Netanyahu talk about the dangers that Rabin posed to Israel in order to feel that he's allowed to kill Rabin.” – Dan Ephron (36:38)

4. Failures and Warnings

• Security Lapses
  • Security services focused almost entirely on threats from Palestinians, failing to sufficiently address domestic Jewish zealots.
  • Bodyguards, surveillance, and even tips about a young, religious, Yemeni Jew with plans to kill Rabin weren't pursued thoroughly enough.
  • Rabin himself resisted heightened security, preferring normalcy—an attitude that, after his assassination, changed the nature of Israeli leadership protection forever.
    (30:28 – 32:45)

5. The Settler Movement's Actual Power

• Political Leverage
  • Though the settler population was smaller in the 1990s (~130,000 in the West Bank), settlers were tightly organized and politically influential.
  • Rabin avoided direct confrontation with settlers during negotiations, refusing to risk evacuations before a final deal was reached, inadvertently strengthening their hold.
  • Infrastructure improvements (e.g., bypass roads) during the Oslo years facilitated the expansion of settlements, including for secular Israelis seeking affordable housing—thus contributing to long-term settlement growth.
    (41:24 – 43:27)

6. The Aftermath—“Did the Peace Process Die with Rabin?”

• Immediate and Long-Term Effects

  • Rabin's assassination didn't instantly kill peace, but ended the era of maximum hope; never since have Israeli and Palestinian societies and leaders come so close to a comprehensive settlement.

  • After a brief surge of sympathy, the political momentum shifted: Netanyahu’s premiership, mainstreaming of the far right, and expansion of settlements followed.

  • Presently, the “worldviews of the people in charge of Israel today are those that Yigal Amir subscribed to.”
    (47:02 – 47:56)

  • Notable Quote

    • “For all the years since, there hasn't been a moment where Israelis and Palestinians were closer than they were at the time. And I don't think there have been Israeli and Palestinian leaders who had the stature to do it since then, as Rabin and Arafat did.” – Dan Ephron (45:46)

7. Rabin's Tarnished Legacy

• Marginalization and Forgetting

  • Rabin's reputation is now “largely forgotten—his legacy tarnished, because he didn’t succeed in getting to that peace agreement... He was assassinated before he could win the peace.”
    (48:36 – 49:37)
  • Comparison made to Lincoln: revered for ending the American Civil War; Rabin did not get the chance to “win” the peace.

• Current State of Israeli and Palestinian Societies

  • Today's political and territorial map makes a two-state solution seem almost impossible ("Gaza in rubble; close to a million settlers in the West Bank").
  • The assassination is described as "one of the most successful ones" in history, since it derailed a historical opportunity for peace rather than generating a backlash in favor of the victim's cause.
    (50:20 – 51:04)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Rabin (1993 Oslo signing):

  “We say to you today in a loud and a clear voice. Enough of blood and tears, enough.” (03:46 – 04:48)

• On Rabin’s assassination's impact:

  “Assassinations aren’t often successful even when the target is killed, because they tend to create a backlash against the assassin. That didn’t happen with Rabin, at least not a lasting rallying around the peace process and around Rabin’s ideas.” – Dan Ephron (50:20)

• On shifts in Israeli society:

  “Part of what we have seen is a kind of mainstreaming of the far right in Israel. That’s been a slow process over decades, but it was accelerated in the last couple of years as Netanyahu brought these far right parties into his coalition.” – Dan Ephron (47:16)

• On Rabin’s stance against settlements:

  “He described them as a cancer in the body of Israeli democracy.” (15:24)

Important Timestamps

• [03:46]—Rabin’s plea for an end to violence, Oslo signing.
• [08:07]—Netanyahu’s rise post-Rabin and subsequent political changes.
• [15:24]—Rabin’s view of settlers as a threat to democracy.
• [16:51]—Profile of Yigal Amir and the religious-national backdrop of his ideology.
• [23:30]—Discussion of spoilers, Oslo’s flaws, and the escalation of violence.
• [27:43]—Explanation of din rodef and din moser—religious rationalizations used by extremists.
• [35:20]—Netanyahu at anti-Oslo rallies and the climate of incitement.
• [41:24]—Limits of Rabin’s settlement policy during Oslo.
• [43:39]—Firstperson account: Ephron recalls the night of the assassination.
• [45:46]—Did peace die with Rabin?
• [48:36]—Rabin’s legacy and reasons for his marginalization.
• [50:20]—Why Rabin’s assassination was, historically, “successful.”

Conclusion

This episode underscores the pivotal nature of Rabin’s assassination in remaking Israeli politics and derailing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. It paints a nuanced portrait of Rabin—not a dove but a pragmatic leader—and places his killing in the context of the broader failure of moderation in the face of extremism on both sides. The conversation offers penetrating historical parallels, contemporary resonances, and somber reflections on what was lost—and what now seems impossibly distant.

Recommended for listeners interested in:

• Israeli & Middle Eastern history
• Political violence and its consequences
• The Oslo peace process
• The evolution of Israeli politics
• Historical turning points and their aftershocks