The following statement is from The LaRouche Organization President Harley Schlanger.
At a moment when frustration is growing and anger peaking in Israel against the Netanyahu regime, it is estimated that between 150,000 and 200,000 Israelis took to the streets on the evening of November 4, to commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. It was a bittersweet moment for many, as Rabin represents a moment of great potential for peace, but also a characteristic failure, as that potential was never realized. According to some demo organizers, many of the older Israelis blame current Prime Minister Netanyahu for the failure, as he has bragged, “I killed Oslo.”
Before Netanyahu appropriated the title “Mr. Security,” Rabin was known by that name. He was a military leader. He was a leading figure in the 1948 War of Independence, and Chief of Staff during the June 1967 “Six-Day War.” Following an inconclusive term as Prime Minister in the mid-1970s, which was ended by scandal, he served as Minister of Defense from 1984 to 1990, meaning he was the chief security officer with responsibility to deal with the Arab Uprising/Intifada, which began in 1987. He initially tried to crush it physically, with Operation “Iron Fist,” but according to his wife, Leah, he soon realized that it only encouraged Palestinian youth to rebel.
When he was elected Prime Minister in 1992, in part due to a growing recognition that clinging to the use of force would fail, he changed his approach. While he never agreed to accept a Palestinian state, and never renounced the Jabotinsky security dogma of the “Iron Wall,” he did turn to diplomacy and open dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was initially done secretly in Oslo, Norway. By overturning the Israeli law against speaking with the PLO, a space was opened for a breakthrough, which occurred with the Oslo Accords, signed by Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat, and U.S. President Bill Clinton on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993.
Ultimately, the promise of Oslo was sabotaged by the failure to fund the limited, but important infrastructure project agreed to and the failure to heed the advice of Lyndon LaRouche, who urged that the construction of Great Projects, led by his Oasis Plan, begin without delay. The assassination of Rabin 30 years ago by a fundamentalist fanatic whipped up by Netanyahu, ultimately sabotaged the potential, and set the stage for the genocide of Palestinians, underway since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas. The only viable path to peace remains LaRouche’s Oasis Plan, and his advice from 1993 remains the best—get out those shovels (or tractors) and start digging the canals.
