Transportation Minister and the Labor party leader Merav Michaeli is currently busy on two fronts, the first is of course the upcoming elections for the 25th Knesset. The second is Michaeli’s new responsibility after she chose to lead the annual rally in memory of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, just a few days before the election. The Minister spoke of Rabin and politics in her latest interview aired on local Israeli radio.
The chairman of the Labor Party was asked why she chose to lead the rally which is supposed to be free of politics just a few days before the elections. "The rally is all-Israeli and very state-oriented. It is held every year on the weekend before or after the national memorial day for Rabin. The day of the murder is November 4th and the rally was always on the weekend before or after.”
#IsraElex22 is Nov 1. Rabin was killed Nov 5. Likud claims Labor's memorial rally will be political.
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) September 29, 2022
Michaeli: "The murder was political. Rabin didn't die at home of old age… The campaign of incitement ahead of his murder was led by Netanyahu & those he's promised ministries." https://t.co/aJ0zu6M8yi
“These current elections are focused on Bibi and Ben Gvir and I think it's important that the public see before their eyes what this duo did last time. Their horrific actions led to Rabin's murder, and the price we have all been paying since then is very heavy one. They must not succeed this time. The Labor Party is returning to Rabin's way, in every aspect" Michaeli was referring to the weeks leading up to Rabin's assassination when Netanyahu was seen campaigning using vitriolic language, saying Rabin was abandoning Jewish values and tradition while a teenage Ben Gvir famously paraded in front of news cameras with the hood ornament of Rabin's Cadillac saying 'Just as we got to his car, we’ll get to him too.' Several weeks after that incident, Yigal Amir, an extremist from the same circles as Ben Gvir and a Netanyahu supporter murdered the peacemaker, Rabin.
Itamar BenGvir & Bezalel Smotrich's ascension are worrying. Ben Gvir uses democracy to undermine it British Jews were right not to meet with Smotrich. Every #Israel friend must say that they don't speak for us.
— Neil Lazarus (@awesomeseminars) August 31, 2022
Here's a clip of BenGvir b4 Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. pic.twitter.com/Xx4mzDVjqf
She further added that "the murder was a political murder. Rabin did not die in his sleep or whatever, he was murdered due to the path he led. Ben Gvir clearly led the line against him, there is a video of him from a few years ago where he says 'I am not ashamed of what I did.' These are the same people who worked on trying to get Yigal Amir released from prison. Now suddenly [Ben Gvir] says he regrets it, it's very nice, but Rabin was murdered because of the path he led, he wasn't murdered a personal murder. His murder was a political murder. We put that on the front page."
Ben Gvir at Belich High School:
— 🇺🇦 ISRAEL BACKS #LGBTQ+ 🇮🇱🏳️🌈 (@h7n33n) September 6, 2022
"I no longer think Baruch Goldstein is a hero."
"I shouldn't have taken a picture with the symbol from Rabin's car."
"I love minorities. Arabs who love the country? Hello and welcome." pic.twitter.com/bIzi4ogFM7
Michaeli finished the interview by emphasizing that the rally is not only for people identified with the left: "I invited Prime Minister Yair Lapid. I want to set things straight, the state never organized the rally, and all kinds of organizations always organized it. Also last year the Labor Party took responsibility and organized it. A political, non-partisan rally."
