WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.480 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we're opening 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:05.240 up the files on a figure whose life is really 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:08.759 the story of modern Israel itself, from the British 00:00:08.759 --> 00:00:11.500 mandate to the handshake on the White House lawn. 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:14.460 We're talking about Yitzhak Rabin. Yitzhak Rabin. 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:16.980 And, you know, when you look at his biography, 00:00:17.179 --> 00:00:19.600 it's just this incredible study in contradiction. 00:00:20.269 --> 00:00:22.910 It's an extraordinary arc. It really is. I mean, 00:00:22.929 --> 00:00:24.989 think about it. He starts as a quintessential 00:00:24.989 --> 00:00:27.989 military commander, spends 27 years in uniform, 00:00:28.269 --> 00:00:31.410 climbs all the way to the top, and he ends his 00:00:31.410 --> 00:00:34.090 life as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. And as 00:00:34.090 --> 00:00:36.789 the only Israeli prime minister to ever be assassinated. 00:00:37.310 --> 00:00:40.009 That tragic end, of course, casts a shadow over 00:00:40.009 --> 00:00:42.789 everything. But it's that journey, that transformation 00:00:42.789 --> 00:00:45.429 that's so compelling. OK, so that's our mission 00:00:45.429 --> 00:00:47.310 for this deep dive. We've got a wealth of source 00:00:47.310 --> 00:00:49.890 material here covering everything from his childhood 00:00:49.890 --> 00:00:52.130 and, you know, labor Zionist household in the 00:00:52.130 --> 00:00:55.570 20s all the way to his death in 1995. And the 00:00:55.570 --> 00:00:57.869 central question we have to tackle, the one at 00:00:57.869 --> 00:01:01.990 the very heart of his story, is how? How did 00:01:01.990 --> 00:01:04.209 the man who architected the stunning victory 00:01:04.209 --> 00:01:07.129 in the Six -Day War become the primary political 00:01:07.129 --> 00:01:10.549 force behind the Oslo Accords? It's a huge shift. 00:01:10.709 --> 00:01:13.189 We're going to trace that path from the commander 00:01:13.189 --> 00:01:15.790 of what he called the Holy Gun to the man who 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:19.170 said. Shalom Haver. Exactly. And we need to look 00:01:19.170 --> 00:01:21.090 at the turning points. We've got documents on 00:01:21.090 --> 00:01:24.510 his early years, his very controversial actions 00:01:24.510 --> 00:01:27.689 in the 48 War, his time in Washington as a diplomat. 00:01:27.790 --> 00:01:29.769 And his legendary political battles with Shimon 00:01:29.769 --> 00:01:32.349 Teres. That rivalry is a whole story in itself. 00:01:32.609 --> 00:01:35.250 But it all leads to this fundamental pivot from 00:01:35.250 --> 00:01:37.709 a hardline security policy that ultimately failed 00:01:37.709 --> 00:01:41.629 to the historic and incredibly risky efforts 00:01:41.629 --> 00:01:44.390 for peace. It's a life defined by massive strategic 00:01:44.390 --> 00:01:46.879 shifts. So let's start. at the beginning. So 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:49.319 let's begin with his roots, because unlike so 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:51.799 many of the other founders of Israel, Rabin wasn't 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:53.560 an immigrant who arrived on a boat, you know, 00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:55.659 burning with revolutionary ideas. No, he was 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:59.019 a native, a Sabra. That fact is absolutely central 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:01.060 to understanding him. He was the first prime 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:03.540 minister to actually be born in the land. Born 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:07.019 in 1922 in Jerusalem at the Sherzadek Medical 00:02:07.019 --> 00:02:09.500 Center. This is all happening during the British 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:12.099 Mandate period. Right. But his parents, they 00:02:12.099 --> 00:02:15.580 were the classic immigrants of what's known as 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:18.159 the Third Aliyah. This was that wave of Jewish 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.860 immigration right after World War I, driven by 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:24.340 socialist and labor ideals. His father, Nehemiah, 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:27.719 came from Ukraine. His mother, Rosa, from Belarus. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.620 And their commitment to the cause was, I mean, 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.360 it was total. The sources show his father, whose 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:35.860 original name was Rupetsov, had actually changed 00:02:35.860 --> 00:02:38.180 his last name to Rabin while he was serving in 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:40.400 the Jewish Legion in the United States, before 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:42.659 even coming to Palestine. So a commitment to 00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:44.539 a Jewish fighting force was already in the family 00:02:44.539 --> 00:02:47.340 DNA. It absolutely was. But his mother, Rosa, 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:49.680 she really stands out in the sources as this 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:53.039 really formidable character. She came to Palestine 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.000 in 1919 on a steamship called the Ruslan. Which 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.050 is often called the Mayflower of the Third. Exactly. 00:02:58.909 --> 00:03:00.949 And she wasn't just, you know, an accountant. 00:03:01.150 --> 00:03:04.069 She was a major activist in Tel Aviv, a real 00:03:04.069 --> 00:03:07.150 force in local politics. She ended up becoming 00:03:07.150 --> 00:03:10.050 a member of the Tel Aviv City Council. So Rabin's 00:03:10.050 --> 00:03:13.650 upbringing was just steeped in this labor Zionist 00:03:13.650 --> 00:03:15.710 environment. And that environment wasn't just 00:03:15.710 --> 00:03:18.050 at home. It was built into his schooling from 00:03:18.050 --> 00:03:21.210 day one. When the family moved to Tel Aviv when 00:03:21.210 --> 00:03:23.550 he was just a year old, he was enrolled in a 00:03:23.550 --> 00:03:27.039 special kind of school. The Beit Hinnok Leal 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:29.620 Dei Avdimim. Which translates to what, exactly? 00:03:29.900 --> 00:03:32.000 The schoolhouse for workers' children. And this 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.259 was not your standard education. The whole curriculum 00:03:34.259 --> 00:03:36.500 was designed to instill the values of the movement. 00:03:36.580 --> 00:03:40.180 It blended academics with practical agricultural 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:43.439 training and, most importantly, Zionist ideology. 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:46.860 So these schools were basically the ideological 00:03:46.860 --> 00:03:49.159 bedrock of the socialist movement that would 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:51.409 go on to dominate Israel for... Decades. For 00:03:51.409 --> 00:03:53.490 its first three decades, yes. But, you know, 00:03:53.490 --> 00:03:55.189 it's interesting. Despite that heavy political 00:03:55.189 --> 00:03:58.349 grounding, his own career ambitions weren't military 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:00.689 at all initially. He went to the Kaduri Agricultural 00:04:00.689 --> 00:04:05.009 High School. He did from 1937 to 1940. And he 00:04:05.009 --> 00:04:07.909 was good at it. He excelled in agriculture and 00:04:07.909 --> 00:04:10.050 his plan was to become an irrigation engineer. 00:04:10.330 --> 00:04:12.150 Which is fascinating because the sources also 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:15.449 point out this political aversion he had to one 00:04:15.449 --> 00:04:18.910 particular subject. English. Yes, he actively 00:04:18.910 --> 00:04:21.769 disliked studying it. He called it the language 00:04:21.769 --> 00:04:24.579 of the British enemy. Which, you know, it tells 00:04:24.579 --> 00:04:26.740 you a lot about how the geopolitical tensions 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:29.480 of the time filtered right down into the classroom 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:32.279 into a teenager's personal life. And that dislike 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:34.560 of the British enemy quickly morphed into a more 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:37.000 serious military interest, especially around 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:39.860 1938 during the Arab Revolt. Right. And that 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:42.160 led him to get some early Haganah training. And 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:44.399 the documents show this really pivotal connection 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.360 he made. His first sergeant was a young Yigal 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:49.579 Alon. Who would go on to become one of the most 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:52.240 famous generals in Israel's history. A huge figure. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:55.060 That relationship with Alon was absolutely formative. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:57.740 It was Alon's influence that got Rabin to join 00:04:57.740 --> 00:05:00.920 the newly formed Palmach in 1941. The Palmach 00:05:00.920 --> 00:05:03.160 being the elite strike source of the Hagen. Their 00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:05.839 commando units, yes. He joined while he was doing 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:08.100 practical training at Kibbutz Ramat Yohannan. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.379 And it's funny because the sources say he was 00:05:10.379 --> 00:05:12.980 actually pretty clumsy at first. Couldn't operate 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:15.300 a machine gun, couldn't drive a car. Or ride 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:18.180 a motorcycle. But Moshe Dayan, another future 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:21.420 icon, accepted him into the unit anyway. What 00:05:21.420 --> 00:05:23.279 does that tell you? I think it tells you they 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.879 valued commitment, raw hunger over initial skill. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:29.139 And you have to understand the nature of the 00:05:29.139 --> 00:05:32.579 Palmec. They were a secret force operating under 00:05:32.579 --> 00:05:35.240 the radar to avoid the British. No uniforms, 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.399 no public recognition. None at all. They spent 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:40.939 most of their time pretending to be farmers and 00:05:40.939 --> 00:05:43.779 then conducted this intensive military training 00:05:43.779 --> 00:05:47.060 in their spare time. It created this very disciplined, 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:50.259 hidden group of future leaders. And their first 00:05:50.259 --> 00:05:52.639 major operation wasn't even against a local group. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:54.839 It was in support of the allies in World War 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:57.240 II. That's right. Their first big action was 00:05:57.240 --> 00:05:59.699 helping the allied forces against the Vichy French 00:05:59.699 --> 00:06:02.220 in the Syria -Lebanon campaign. That was the 00:06:02.220 --> 00:06:04.360 same operation where Moshe Dayan famously lost 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:06.819 his eye. It underscores the real dangers they 00:06:06.819 --> 00:06:09.459 were facing. Absolutely. Then after the war, 00:06:09.579 --> 00:06:12.040 the focus snaps right back to resisting the British 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:15.160 mandate. And the sources point to this one crucial 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:17.800 action that Rabin planned and led in October 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:20.839 1945. The raid on the outlet detainee camp. Yes. 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:24.240 A moment of huge political importance. They successfully 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:27.620 breached this British camp and freed 208 Jewish 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:30.600 immigrants who were being held there as illegals. 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.899 A massive morale boost for the issue of the Jewish 00:06:33.899 --> 00:06:36.360 community. And a huge act of defiance. But that 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:39.259 defiance had a cost. Less than a year later, 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:42.560 the British launched this massive crackdown called 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:45.600 Black Shabbat. And Rabin was arrested. along 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:47.779 with hundreds of other Jewish leaders. He was 00:06:47.779 --> 00:06:50.420 detained for five months, and that time in prison, 00:06:50.579 --> 00:06:52.779 alongside the future political leadership of 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:55.120 the state, had to be incredibly formative. When 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:57.959 he got out, his rise was meteoric. By October 00:06:57.959 --> 00:07:00.980 1947, just as the UN was voting on partition, 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:03.600 he was made chief operations officer of the Palma. 00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:05.160 Placing him right at the nerve center of the 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:07.000 military, just as everything was about to explode. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:10.079 And that promotion put Rabin right at the top 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.899 level of command for the 1948 War of Independence. 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:15.360 He was directing operations in the Jerusalem 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.439 sector, which is just a critical front. He commanded 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:20.060 the Herald Brigade. The Herald Brigade, yeah. 00:07:20.180 --> 00:07:23.180 And his unit was absolutely pivotal. They were 00:07:23.180 --> 00:07:25.740 fighting to secure the road to Jerusalem, that 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:28.139 lifeline from the coast, and to hold the southern 00:07:28.139 --> 00:07:30.819 part of the city. They fought for and recaptured 00:07:30.819 --> 00:07:33.540 Kibbutz Ramat Rachel multiple times. But the 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:36.100 48 War wasn't just about fighting external enemies. 00:07:36.649 --> 00:07:38.569 It was also filled with these brutal internal 00:07:38.569 --> 00:07:42.149 conflicts. And our sources really highlight two 00:07:42.149 --> 00:07:46.430 deeply controversial episodes that define Rabin 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:49.209 as a commander. Episodes that show he was willing 00:07:49.209 --> 00:07:51.350 to make these incredibly harsh calls for the 00:07:51.350 --> 00:07:53.529 sake of establishing state power. Let's start 00:07:53.529 --> 00:07:56.160 with the Altalena affair. During the first truce. 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:58.500 This was, you could argue, the closest Israel 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:00.699 ever came to a full -blown civil war. The Altalena 00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:03.060 was a ship organized by the right -wing Ergen 00:08:03.060 --> 00:08:06.339 paramilitary group. Minichim begins group. Exactly. 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:09.980 And it was carrying almost 900 volunteers and 00:08:09.980 --> 00:08:12.920 a huge amount of weapons and ammunition. Now, 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.240 Prime Minister David Ben -Gurion had just ordered 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:18.160 all the paramilitary groups to disband and join 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:21.040 the new Israel Defense Forces, the IDF. So he 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:23.439 saw this ship as a direct challenge. A direct 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:27.120 challenge to the authority. And Rabin was the 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:29.439 commander on the ground leading the IDF forces 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:31.860 that confronted the ship right off the coast 00:08:31.860 --> 00:08:33.940 of Tel Aviv. And what we learned from the documentation 00:08:33.940 --> 00:08:37.059 is that he had this phrase for the cannon they 00:08:37.059 --> 00:08:39.279 used to fire on the ship. He did. He personally 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.019 called it the holy gun. The holy gun. I mean, 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:43.940 that phrase is just packed with so much political 00:08:43.940 --> 00:08:46.379 meaning. It's immense. It's this assertion that 00:08:46.379 --> 00:08:49.860 the state's military, the IDF, is the only legitimate 00:08:49.860 --> 00:08:52.879 security force and any weapon used to enforce 00:08:52.879 --> 00:08:55.809 that authority. is, in a way, sanctified. The 00:08:55.809 --> 00:08:57.429 whole thing ended with the ship being shelled, 00:08:57.509 --> 00:08:59.929 catching fire, and sinking. A terrible, tragic 00:08:59.929 --> 00:09:02.149 event. But it's crucial to note what didn't happen. 00:09:02.250 --> 00:09:04.870 It didn't become a civil war. And the sources 00:09:04.870 --> 00:09:06.669 show that's largely because of what Menachem 00:09:06.669 --> 00:09:10.289 Begin did. Yes. Begin went on the radio and gave 00:09:10.289 --> 00:09:13.110 this historic order to his men. He said, Do not 00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:15.419 raise a hand against a brother. It is forbidden 00:09:15.419 --> 00:09:17.960 for a Hebrew weapon to be used against Hebrew 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:21.059 fighters. Incredible moment. He chose national 00:09:21.059 --> 00:09:24.360 unity over factional conflict, even as his ship 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:27.299 was burning. It was a monumental decision. So 00:09:27.299 --> 00:09:29.299 if the Altalena was about internal authority, 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:32.700 the second big controversy was about the demographic 00:09:32.700 --> 00:09:34.990 reality of the new state. We're talking about 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:37.830 the events during Operation Danny. Yes. And Rabin's 00:09:37.830 --> 00:09:40.669 role as deputy commander. After the capture of 00:09:40.669 --> 00:09:43.889 the Arab towns of Ramel and Lida now Lod, the 00:09:43.889 --> 00:09:46.129 decision was made to expel the civilian population. 00:09:46.590 --> 00:09:48.570 And what does the source material actually say 00:09:48.570 --> 00:09:51.309 about Rabin's direct involvement? It shows a 00:09:51.309 --> 00:09:53.629 direct order signed by him. And the language 00:09:53.629 --> 00:09:55.889 of that order, it's chillingly direct. It states, 00:09:56.070 --> 00:09:58.610 I'm quoting here, the inhabitants of Lida must 00:09:58.610 --> 00:10:00.809 be expelled quickly without attention to age. 00:10:01.230 --> 00:10:04.049 Implement immediately. So this action, the forced 00:10:04.049 --> 00:10:06.289 march of tens of thousands of people, it shows 00:10:06.289 --> 00:10:08.809 Rabin carrying out these brutal, pragmatic orders 00:10:08.809 --> 00:10:10.509 that were part of the military philosophy of 00:10:10.509 --> 00:10:12.629 the time. It was about securing the new state, 00:10:12.850 --> 00:10:15.690 consolidating territory, and managing a demographic 00:10:15.690 --> 00:10:17.950 reality that the leadership saw as a threat. 00:10:18.350 --> 00:10:21.450 It's a world away from the Rabin of the 1990s, 00:10:21.450 --> 00:10:23.889 but it confirms the character of the soldier 00:10:23.889 --> 00:10:27.000 Rabin. Utterly uncompromising. And yet right 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:29.440 after all this brutal fighting, he's immediately 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.000 pushed into a diplomatic role. Straight into 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.179 the armistice talks with Egypt on the island 00:10:34.179 --> 00:10:37.500 of Rhodes in early 49. So he's getting this early 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:40.559 exposure to post -conflict negotiation. He is. 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:43.200 And it's significant that after the war, when 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:45.700 most of the old Palmec leadership either resigned 00:10:45.700 --> 00:10:48.379 or were pushed out, Rabin was the most senior 00:10:48.379 --> 00:10:51.460 Palmec veteran left in the IDF. He was clearly 00:10:51.460 --> 00:10:54.179 being groomed for the top. But his rise hit a 00:10:54.179 --> 00:10:57.679 snag in the 1950s. The sources say Ben -Gurion, 00:10:57.779 --> 00:11:00.620 the prime minister, really distrusted him. Why 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:03.200 was that? It was all about politics. Rabin was 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.779 associated with the left -wing Adut Havavoda 00:11:05.779 --> 00:11:08.299 and Mapom parties, which were often rivals to 00:11:08.299 --> 00:11:10.580 Ben -Gurion's own party. And Ben -Gurion was 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:13.220 centralizing power. So for a few years, Rabin 00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:15.899 was kind of sidelined. Put in staff or training 00:11:15.899 --> 00:11:19.200 posts, yes. A lot of his Palmet comrades left 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.340 the IDF in frustration during that period. But 00:11:22.340 --> 00:11:24.679 Rabin, showing this incredible discipline, he 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:27.120 just stayed put. He waited it out. And he eventually 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:30.200 got back on track. By the late 50s, he's head 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:32.480 of the Northern Command, then head of the Operations 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:36.279 Directorate. And then in 1964, he gets the top 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:39.190 job. He's appointed Rabalouf, the IDF's highest 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:41.769 rank and chief of the general staff. And the 00:11:41.769 --> 00:11:44.549 prime minister who appoints him is Levi Eshkol. 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:47.419 Right. And Eshkol, who didn't have Ben -Gurion's 00:11:47.419 --> 00:11:50.279 military background, reportedly trusted Rabin's 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:52.919 judgment with closed eyes. That's a huge amount 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:55.580 of trust. It gave Rabin immense power to shape 00:11:55.580 --> 00:11:57.840 the IDF, which led directly to the planning and, 00:11:57.879 --> 00:11:59.639 of course, the execution of the Six -Day War 00:11:59.639 --> 00:12:02.940 in 1967. A war that really cemented his legacy 00:12:02.940 --> 00:12:06.460 as a military genius. He oversaw this absolutely 00:12:06.460 --> 00:12:09.320 crushing victory against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:11.460 It was a strategic masterpiece. But it's hard 00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:13.480 to really fathom the kind of pressure he was 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:15.840 under in the week. leading up to that war. And 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.620 the sources suggest it took a serious personal 00:12:17.620 --> 00:12:20.580 toll. This is one of those surprising, very human 00:12:20.580 --> 00:12:23.340 details that comes out. In the incredibly tense 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:26.440 days before the war, Rabin reportedly suffered 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:29.700 from what's been described as a nervous breakdown. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.379 He was temporarily unable to function. Which 00:12:32.379 --> 00:12:34.399 just speaks volumes about the weight of national 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.480 survival that was resting on his shoulders. But 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.320 he recovered, resumed full command, and led the 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:42.139 IDF to that historic victory. One of the most 00:12:42.139 --> 00:12:44.299 iconic images is of him giving this emotional 00:12:44.299 --> 00:12:46.539 speech on Mount Scopus after the old city of 00:12:46.539 --> 00:12:49.419 Jerusalem was captured. And then after 27 years 00:12:49.419 --> 00:12:52.679 in uniform, he retired. His reputation as a military 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:55.559 architect was sealed. So after retiring from 00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:58.120 the military in 68, Rabin doesn't just fade away. 00:12:58.299 --> 00:13:01.000 He immediately pivots to diplomacy, becoming 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.299 Israel's ambassador to the United States for 00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:05.820 five years. And this wasn't just some ceremonial 00:13:05.820 --> 00:13:08.620 post. This was a critical period for the U .S.-Israel 00:13:08.620 --> 00:13:10.820 relationship. Absolutely pivotal. This is the 00:13:10.820 --> 00:13:12.559 moment where the U .S. officially takes over 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:15.039 from France as Israel's main weapons supplier. 00:13:15.299 --> 00:13:17.960 France had placed an arms embargo on Israel after 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:20.580 the Six -Day War. So Rabin's main job was to 00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:23.480 cement that new strategic partnership. Exactly. 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:26.519 And he was very successful. The sources confirm 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:28.820 he managed to get the U .S. embargo lifted on 00:13:28.820 --> 00:13:31.500 really vital military hardware, most famously 00:13:31.500 --> 00:13:34.379 the F -4 Phantom fighter jets. Which were essential 00:13:34.379 --> 00:13:37.080 for maintaining Israel's air superiority at the 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:39.179 time. Crucial. It's interesting to note that 00:13:39.179 --> 00:13:42.039 when the Yom Kippur War breaks out in 73, he's 00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:44.360 just finished his term as ambassador, so he holds 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:47.620 no official military role. But his return to 00:13:47.620 --> 00:13:50.059 Israeli politics after that was incredibly fast. 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:53.470 He gets elected to the Nesset in late 73. Serves 00:13:53.470 --> 00:13:56.250 a short stint as Minister of Labor. But then 00:13:56.250 --> 00:13:59.639 the big opportunity comes in 74. It does. After 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:01.740 all the resignations following the failures of 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:04.620 the Yom Kippur War, Golda Mey steps down. And 00:14:04.620 --> 00:14:07.559 Rabin challenges his longtime, very fierce rival, 00:14:07.779 --> 00:14:09.879 Shimon Peres, for the leadership of the Labor 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:12.799 Party. And he wins. He wins. And that rivalry 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:15.200 between Rabin and Peres is just this constant 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:17.639 theme that runs through decades of Israeli politics. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:21.559 So in June 1974, Yitzhak Rabin becomes prime 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.039 minister. And his first term. even though it 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:26.440 was short, was really consequential, especially 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:28.139 on the foreign policy front. This is where we 00:14:28.139 --> 00:14:29.899 start to see the first hints of the peacemaker. 00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:34.019 You do. In 1975, he signs the Sinai Interim Agreement 00:14:34.019 --> 00:14:36.500 with Egypt. What was so important about that 00:14:36.500 --> 00:14:38.639 agreement? Well, it wasn't a full peace treaty, 00:14:38.779 --> 00:14:42.200 not yet, but it had this crucial political declaration 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:45.179 baked into it. Both countries agreed that the 00:14:45.179 --> 00:14:47.940 conflict would not be resolved by military force. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.840 That's a huge shift in language. A huge shift. 00:14:51.230 --> 00:14:53.169 It was the first time an Israeli government agreed 00:14:53.169 --> 00:14:55.970 to trade land withdrawing from parts of the Sinai 00:14:55.970 --> 00:14:58.909 in exchange for a political commitment to de 00:14:58.909 --> 00:15:01.570 -escalation. And the sources show this was not 00:15:01.570 --> 00:15:04.669 an easy negotiation. Rabin himself described 00:15:04.669 --> 00:15:06.710 the American pressure, particularly from Henry 00:15:06.710 --> 00:15:10.070 Kissinger, as one of the worst periods in American 00:15:10.070 --> 00:15:13.570 -Israeli relations. But he got it done. And that 00:15:13.570 --> 00:15:15.649 agreement laid the groundwork for the Camp David 00:15:15.649 --> 00:15:17.870 Accords that Menachem Begin would sign a few 00:15:17.870 --> 00:15:19.850 years later. And while he's navigating all this 00:15:19.850 --> 00:15:22.250 high stakes diplomacy, his government pulls off 00:15:22.250 --> 00:15:25.110 one of the most daring military operations imaginable. 00:15:25.210 --> 00:15:29.509 Operation Entebbe, 1976. A defining moment. Absolutely. 00:15:30.379 --> 00:15:32.960 Rabin personally gives the order for this long 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:36.779 range undercover raid in Uganda to rescue hijacked 00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:39.620 airline passengers. The sheer audacity of it, 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:43.220 flying thousands of miles from home. It was hailed 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:45.539 around the world as a tremendous success. A huge 00:15:45.539 --> 00:15:48.419 boost to national morale and a massive display 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:51.220 of hard power. It was. So you have these incredible 00:15:51.220 --> 00:15:53.899 successes on both the diplomatic and military 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:56.340 fronts. And then his government just collapses 00:15:56.340 --> 00:15:58.559 seemingly out of nowhere. And over a domestic 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:01.370 issue, which is the. Real irony. It is. The coalition 00:16:01.370 --> 00:16:04.429 fell apart in late 76 over a breach of the Sabbath. 00:16:05.049 --> 00:16:07.610 Specifically, a shipment of F -15 jets from the 00:16:07.610 --> 00:16:10.169 U .S. was delivered very publicly after the Sabbath 00:16:10.169 --> 00:16:13.149 had already started. So Rabin calls for new elections. 00:16:13.730 --> 00:16:16.190 He manages to beat Perez again for the party 00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:19.049 leadership, but then his entire premiership is 00:16:19.049 --> 00:16:21.450 derailed by a financial scandal. Right. And we 00:16:21.450 --> 00:16:22.929 need to dig into this because it wasn't just 00:16:22.929 --> 00:16:25.090 a technical thing. It became this huge ethical 00:16:25.090 --> 00:16:27.840 issue for a man who was seen as a war hero. A 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:29.759 journalist found out that he and his wife Leah 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:32.539 had a U .S. dollar bank account in Washington. 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:35.940 A holdover from his time as ambassador. But back 00:16:35.940 --> 00:16:38.559 then, Israeli currency laws were incredibly strict. 00:16:38.820 --> 00:16:41.820 It was illegal for citizens to hold foreign bank 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:44.259 accounts. And what was the actual amount of money 00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:46.100 involved? It wasn't a huge corruption scandal, 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:49.399 was it? No, not at all. The investigation found 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:51.299 they had two illegal accounts that contained 00:16:51.299 --> 00:16:54.480 a total of about $10 ,000. They were fined, but 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:56.980 the political damage was catastrophic. The breach 00:16:56.980 --> 00:17:00.159 of the law... even if Minor just shattered his 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:03.659 moral authority. It did. And on April 7, 1977, 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:06.420 he resigned as party leader and withdrew from 00:17:06.420 --> 00:17:09.079 the election. And that resignation had consequences 00:17:09.079 --> 00:17:12.119 far beyond his own career. It paved the way for 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:15.299 the historic 1977 election, where labor lost 00:17:15.299 --> 00:17:17.559 power for the first time in Israel's history. 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:20.559 And Menachem Begin's Likud party came to power. 00:17:20.660 --> 00:17:23.480 A true political earthquake, all triggered by 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:26.259 a $10 ,000 bank account. So after that resignation, 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:28.700 Rabin is in the political wilderness for a few 00:17:28.700 --> 00:17:30.859 years. He's still in the Nesset, but in the opposition. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:33.599 He even tries to challenge Perry's again for 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.700 the party leadership in 1980 and fails. Right. 00:17:37.210 --> 00:17:40.369 And that period from 77 to 84 is when the political 00:17:40.369 --> 00:17:43.769 right under Likud really solidifies its power. 00:17:43.890 --> 00:17:46.109 Labor is forced to do a lot of soul searching. 00:17:46.269 --> 00:17:48.630 But he finally gets back into a position of real 00:17:48.630 --> 00:17:52.690 power in 1984. The country forms a national unity 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:55.430 government and Rabin goes back to a role he knows 00:17:55.430 --> 00:17:57.910 better than anyone. Minister of Defense. He's 00:17:57.910 --> 00:17:59.769 back in his element and he serves in that role 00:17:59.769 --> 00:18:03.819 for six years until 1990. One of his first major 00:18:03.819 --> 00:18:06.960 moves is ordering the IDF to withdraw from most 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:10.039 of Lebanon, establishing that security zone along 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:12.019 the border. Which effectively ended the most 00:18:12.019 --> 00:18:14.819 controversial phase of the 1982 Lebanon War. 00:18:14.980 --> 00:18:17.160 But that period is really remembered for something 00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:20.160 else entirely, a policy that seems to completely 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:22.319 contradict the man he would later become. The 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:24.640 Iron Fist policy in the West Bank. Exactly. This 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:27.180 policy starts around 1985, and it's a direct 00:18:27.180 --> 00:18:29.220 response to a lot of public pressure for tougher 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:32.730 measures against Palestinian unrest. fist did 00:18:32.730 --> 00:18:35.470 according to the sources was revive and implement 00:18:35.470 --> 00:18:37.890 these really harsh laws from the british mandate 00:18:37.890 --> 00:18:39.869 era what kind of measures are we talking about 00:18:39.869 --> 00:18:42.750 we're talking about severe measures things like 00:18:42.750 --> 00:18:46.190 detention without trial large -scale house demolitions 00:18:46.190 --> 00:18:49.210 as a form of collective punishment closing down 00:18:49.210 --> 00:18:51.630 newspapers and schools and deporting political 00:18:51.630 --> 00:18:55.319 activists the whole strategy was just overwhelming 00:18:55.319 --> 00:18:58.299 force to crush dissent. And that hardline policy 00:18:58.299 --> 00:19:00.640 is then put to the ultimate test in December 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:03.980 1987 with the start of the First Intifada. Yes. 00:19:04.140 --> 00:19:06.740 And this wasn't a military conflict in the traditional 00:19:06.740 --> 00:19:09.680 sense. This was a popular uprising. It was civil 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:12.759 disobedience, strikes, boycotts and mass street 00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:16.009 demonstrations. And Rabin initially. Didn't see 00:19:16.009 --> 00:19:18.410 it for what it was. He was on a trip abroad and 00:19:18.410 --> 00:19:20.990 completely failed to grasp the seriousness of 00:19:20.990 --> 00:19:23.170 it. He dismissed it. But when he got back, he 00:19:23.170 --> 00:19:25.490 adopted these drastic measures. And this is where 00:19:25.490 --> 00:19:27.349 the commander's mindset really comes through 00:19:27.349 --> 00:19:29.269 and where it ultimately fails. He gives that 00:19:29.269 --> 00:19:32.289 infamous order to the military to use force, 00:19:32.390 --> 00:19:35.730 might and beatings on protesters. It was a direct 00:19:35.730 --> 00:19:38.029 political instruction to physically break the 00:19:38.029 --> 00:19:40.009 will of the demonstrators. And the result was 00:19:40.009 --> 00:19:42.450 an absolute disaster for Israel's image. You 00:19:42.450 --> 00:19:45.109 had this footage of Israeli soldiers. Eating 00:19:45.109 --> 00:19:47.549 unarmed youths being broadcast all over the world. 00:19:47.690 --> 00:19:51.170 It was terrible. And this derogatory term, bonebreaker, 00:19:51.410 --> 00:19:53.869 it became an international slogan used against 00:19:53.869 --> 00:19:55.970 the Israeli government. The political cost was 00:19:55.970 --> 00:19:58.390 huge. OK, let's pause on this because this is 00:19:58.390 --> 00:20:01.029 the crucial intellectual turning point. How does 00:20:01.029 --> 00:20:04.769 a military mind like Rabin's process the failure 00:20:04.769 --> 00:20:08.480 of a policy that he himself ordered? What convinced 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.119 him that force was now counterproductive? It 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:13.319 was the feedback loop from the ground. The iron 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:15.059 fist wasn't solving the problem. It was making 00:20:15.059 --> 00:20:17.559 it worse. Every beating created a new martyr. 00:20:17.740 --> 00:20:20.660 Every house demolition created more anger. The 00:20:20.660 --> 00:20:23.359 military itself realized this endless cycle of 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:26.460 repression was a massive drain on resources and 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:29.099 was destroying the army's morale and Israel's 00:20:29.099 --> 00:20:31.299 international standing. So the continued use 00:20:31.299 --> 00:20:33.500 of force was actually making Israel less secure, 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:36.220 not more. Precisely. The general who had been 00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:38.430 willing to sign... expulsion orders in 48 was 00:20:38.430 --> 00:20:40.849 forced by the complete operational failure of 00:20:40.849 --> 00:20:42.890 his own policy to realize there had to be another 00:20:42.890 --> 00:20:45.430 way. And when Jordan cut its administrative ties 00:20:45.430 --> 00:20:48.170 to the West Bank, it just accelerated that realization. 00:20:48.549 --> 00:20:51.170 The realization that real long -term security 00:20:51.170 --> 00:20:54.170 would require a political solution, even a risky 00:20:54.170 --> 00:20:56.390 one. That is the foundation of the Rabin, who 00:20:56.390 --> 00:20:59.569 would later pursue the Oslo Accords. It's a fascinating 00:20:59.569 --> 00:21:02.069 duality, though. During the same period, he's 00:21:02.069 --> 00:21:04.549 still overseeing classic military operations. 00:21:04.849 --> 00:21:07.670 Like the assassination of PLO second -in -command 00:21:07.670 --> 00:21:11.049 Abu Jihad in Tunis. And operations against Hezbollah 00:21:11.049 --> 00:21:13.769 in Lebanon. The capacity for force was still 00:21:13.769 --> 00:21:16.170 there, but the political conclusion had changed. 00:21:16.450 --> 00:21:19.289 He knew he needed to pivot, but first he had 00:21:19.289 --> 00:21:21.390 to win that final political battle against Perez. 00:21:21.690 --> 00:21:24.750 After Perez's failed coalition attempt in 1990, 00:21:25.630 --> 00:21:27.990 The dirty trick scandal, Rabin, tries to force 00:21:27.990 --> 00:21:30.710 a leadership vote. And he fails. The party establishment 00:21:30.710 --> 00:21:34.190 protects Perez. But Rabin, as always, is patient. 00:21:34.309 --> 00:21:37.190 He waits two more years. And in the 1992 Labor 00:21:37.190 --> 00:21:40.130 Party primary, he finally unseats Shimon Perez. 00:21:40.430 --> 00:21:42.349 Putting him in position to lead the party into 00:21:42.349 --> 00:21:44.529 the next national election, ready to implement 00:21:44.529 --> 00:21:46.950 the huge strategic shift he now believed was 00:21:46.950 --> 00:21:50.109 necessary. So the 1992 elections bring Rabin 00:21:50.109 --> 00:21:52.490 back to the prime minister's office. Labor wins 00:21:52.490 --> 00:21:54.589 a clear victory over Yitzhak Shamir's Likud. 00:21:54.970 --> 00:21:57.970 And he forms the first labor led government in 00:21:57.970 --> 00:22:01.390 15 years. But it's a narrow coalition. And crucially, 00:22:01.450 --> 00:22:03.829 it relies on the non -coalition support of Arab 00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:06.950 parties to survive. Which in itself was a revolutionary 00:22:06.950 --> 00:22:10.529 step in Israeli politics. It was. It signaled 00:22:10.529 --> 00:22:13.170 he was willing to build a new kind of political 00:22:13.170 --> 00:22:16.710 alliance to achieve his main goal. Now, he still 00:22:16.710 --> 00:22:19.549 showed he could use force. He authorized a big 00:22:19.549 --> 00:22:22.609 military operation in Lebanon in 93. But his 00:22:22.609 --> 00:22:25.309 real focus was on the monumental achievement 00:22:25.309 --> 00:22:28.519 to come. The Oslo Accords. The Oslo Accords. 00:22:28.779 --> 00:22:31.079 This agreement fundamentally changed the game. 00:22:31.220 --> 00:22:33.299 It created the Palestinian National Authority, 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:36.119 the PNA, and gave it partial control over parts 00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:38.579 of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It was the 00:22:38.579 --> 00:22:41.099 general taking the ultimate political risk. And 00:22:41.099 --> 00:22:43.400 it all hinged on mutual recognition. It did. 00:22:43.579 --> 00:22:46.380 On September 9, 1993, you have this historic 00:22:46.380 --> 00:22:49.519 simultaneous exchange. Yasser Arafat sends a 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:51.640 letter renouncing violence and officially recognizing 00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:54.359 Israel. And on the exact same day, Raven sends 00:22:54.359 --> 00:22:56.460 a letter to Arafat officially recognizing the 00:22:56.460 --> 00:22:59.359 PLO. But what's so telling is Rabin's stated 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:01.579 reason for doing this. It wasn't some idealistic 00:23:01.579 --> 00:23:04.240 vision of peace and brotherhood. It was cold, 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:07.200 hard pragmatism. He was incredibly blunt about 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:09.740 it. There's this crucial quote where he explains 00:23:09.740 --> 00:23:12.859 his motive. He believed the Palestinians will 00:23:12.859 --> 00:23:15.440 be better at it than we were. Better at what? 00:23:15.660 --> 00:23:18.750 At policing their own people. He went on to say 00:23:18.750 --> 00:23:20.990 that the PNA would free Israeli soldiers from 00:23:20.990 --> 00:23:23.390 the moral and legal nightmare of occupation because 00:23:23.390 --> 00:23:26.150 they would allow no appeals to the Supreme Court 00:23:26.150 --> 00:23:29.150 and would rule by their own methods. So he essentially 00:23:29.150 --> 00:23:32.900 saw the PNA as. a security subcontractor. That's 00:23:32.900 --> 00:23:34.900 a cynical way to put it, but it's not far off. 00:23:34.980 --> 00:23:38.119 From his military perspective, it solved the 00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:40.880 problem that the Intifada had exposed. It removed 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:43.299 the Israeli army from that impossible situation. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:46.640 And yet that hard -nosed realism seemed to melt 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.299 away for a moment during that handshake on the 00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:52.190 White House lawn. His words then were so powerful. 00:23:52.309 --> 00:23:54.410 They were. We who have fought against you, the 00:23:54.410 --> 00:23:56.710 Palestinians, enough of blood and tears, enough. 00:23:56.950 --> 00:23:59.690 A true turning point. And the peace efforts didn't 00:23:59.690 --> 00:24:01.589 stop there. He also oversaw the peace treaty 00:24:01.589 --> 00:24:04.569 with Jordan in 1994. Solidifying another one 00:24:04.569 --> 00:24:06.869 of Israel's long borders and showing that his 00:24:06.869 --> 00:24:09.289 new political approach could yield tangible results. 00:24:09.769 --> 00:24:11.970 And while all this is happening on the world 00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:16.180 stage. His government is engineering this massive 00:24:16.180 --> 00:24:19.019 transformation of Israel's economy at home. A 00:24:19.019 --> 00:24:22.180 complete overhaul. They pushed through huge economic 00:24:22.180 --> 00:24:25.119 reforms, launching what some sources called a 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:27.480 privatization frenzy. They were systematically 00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.519 selling off old state -run companies. And they 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:33.880 created a program called YASMA in 1993. Why was 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:36.299 that so important? YASMA, which means initiative, 00:24:36.500 --> 00:24:39.630 was a stroke of genius. The government created 00:24:39.630 --> 00:24:41.990 a fund to attract foreign venture capital to 00:24:41.990 --> 00:24:44.769 Israel's tech sector. They offered tax incentives 00:24:44.769 --> 00:24:47.650 and promised to match private investment. So 00:24:47.650 --> 00:24:49.349 they weren't just funding tech themselves. They 00:24:49.349 --> 00:24:52.349 were creating a market for it. Exactly. And that 00:24:52.349 --> 00:24:54.670 program is widely credited with kickstarting 00:24:54.670 --> 00:24:57.029 the startup nation phenomenon. It was a paradigm 00:24:57.029 --> 00:24:59.210 shift. And the social policy changes were just 00:24:59.210 --> 00:25:02.609 as big. Huge. In 1995, they passed the National 00:25:02.609 --> 00:25:05.630 Health Insurance Law. This created Israel's universal 00:25:05.630 --> 00:25:08.089 health care system, breaking the monopoly of 00:25:08.089 --> 00:25:10.630 the powerful histidrut labor union. He also poured 00:25:10.630 --> 00:25:13.289 money into education. Increased spending by 70 00:25:13.289 --> 00:25:15.700 percent. built new colleges, raised teachers' 00:25:15.859 --> 00:25:18.519 salaries, and launched massive infrastructure 00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:21.619 projects like the Cross Israel Highway. He was 00:25:21.619 --> 00:25:24.539 modernizing the entire country. And all of this 00:25:24.539 --> 00:25:26.180 work, of course, is recognized with the Nobel 00:25:26.180 --> 00:25:29.319 Peace Prize in 1994, which he shared with Perez 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:31.640 and Arafat. But that prize, that political risk 00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:34.059 he took, was met with just ferocious opposition 00:25:34.059 --> 00:25:37.160 at home. Huge, sometimes violent protests from 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:39.099 the right wing and religious nationalists. How 00:25:39.099 --> 00:25:41.660 did Rabin react to that? With the same unyielding 00:25:41.660 --> 00:25:44.259 attitude of a general who has made his strategic 00:25:44.259 --> 00:25:46.839 decision and will not be swayed. He basically 00:25:46.839 --> 00:25:48.720 said that as long as he had a majority in the 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:51.519 Nesset. He would ignore the protests. He had 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:53.960 that famous quote about the protesters, that 00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:56.700 they could spin around and around like propellers. 00:25:56.900 --> 00:25:59.900 Just completely dismissive. And he was just as 00:25:59.900 --> 00:26:02.059 blunt with critics abroad, telling American Jews 00:26:02.059 --> 00:26:04.500 who objected to his plan that their dissent was 00:26:04.500 --> 00:26:08.279 chutzpah. This hardline stance emboldened his 00:26:08.279 --> 00:26:10.660 supporters, but it absolutely intensified the 00:26:10.660 --> 00:26:13.400 hatred from his opponents, especially as Hamas 00:26:13.400 --> 00:26:16.220 began its wave of suicide bombings to try and 00:26:16.220 --> 00:26:18.880 derail the process. The country was at a boiling 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:21.019 point. And that tension finally boiled over. 00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:24.819 The end came so violently, so abruptly, on the 00:26:24.819 --> 00:26:27.720 night of November 4th, 1995. He was at a huge 00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:30.119 peace rally in Tel Aviv. It was held in what 00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:32.579 was then called Kings of Israel Square, a massive 00:26:32.579 --> 00:26:34.900 crowd all there to support the Oslo Accords. 00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:37.220 And as the rally ended, as he was walking to 00:26:37.220 --> 00:26:40.089 his car, he was ambushed. He was shot by Yigal 00:26:40.089 --> 00:26:42.549 Amir, a right -wing extremist, a law student 00:26:42.549 --> 00:26:44.930 who was fanatically opposed to the peace process. 00:26:45.230 --> 00:26:47.569 He believed Rabin was a traitor for giving away 00:26:47.569 --> 00:26:51.049 biblical land. Amir fired three shots. Two of 00:26:51.049 --> 00:26:53.339 them hit Rabin. The damage was catastrophic. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:55.460 He was rushed to the hospital but died on the 00:26:55.460 --> 00:26:57.759 operating table. It was a national trauma on 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:00.279 a scale that's hard to describe. It just completely 00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:02.799 changed the country's political trajectory overnight. 00:27:03.619 --> 00:27:06.079 Amir was arrested immediately, of course, convicted 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:08.819 and sentenced to life in prison. The immediate 00:27:08.819 --> 00:27:11.039 aftermath was just this outpouring of grief. 00:27:11.420 --> 00:27:13.720 Hundreds of thousands of Israelis, especially 00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:15.960 young people, flocked to the square, lighting 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:18.920 candles, singing peace songs. Shimon Peres, his 00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:21.420 old rival and now his partner in peace, was... 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:23.720 appointed acting prime minister and the funeral 00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:26.619 a couple days later was this incredible international 00:27:26.619 --> 00:27:30.019 event unprecedented world leaders from everywhere 00:27:30.019 --> 00:27:32.799 came to pay their respects u .s president bill 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:36.299 clinton egyptian president hazni mubarak and 00:27:36.299 --> 00:27:39.299 maybe most movingly of all king hussein of jordan 00:27:39.299 --> 00:27:41.859 and it was clinton's eulogy that gave us the 00:27:41.859 --> 00:27:43.700 phrase that will forever be linked to that moment 00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:46.539 he ended it with the hebrew words shalom haver 00:27:46.539 --> 00:27:50.559 goodbye friend And in that moment, in death, 00:27:50.759 --> 00:27:52.819 Rabin was transformed into this powerful national 00:27:52.819 --> 00:27:55.680 symbol. The ultimate irony is that this career 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.559 military hawk, the man who ordered expulsions 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:01.220 and beatings, became the enduring icon of the 00:28:01.220 --> 00:28:03.819 Israeli peace camp. And that legacy was quickly 00:28:03.819 --> 00:28:07.440 cemented. The square was renamed Rabin Square. 00:28:08.059 --> 00:28:11.619 The Nesset set an official Memorial Day. The 00:28:11.619 --> 00:28:14.200 Yitzhak Rabin Center was founded to promote his 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:17.019 ideals of peace and democracy. But we have to 00:28:17.019 --> 00:28:18.680 talk about the security failures that came to 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:20.980 light afterwards. It was revealed that a prominent 00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:24.200 right -wing extremist, a guy named Avishar Raviv, 00:28:24.220 --> 00:28:26.420 who had been organizing anti -Rabin rallies, 00:28:26.740 --> 00:28:30.180 was actually an agent informer for the Shin Bet, 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:32.900 the internal security service. His codename was 00:28:32.900 --> 00:28:36.000 Champagne. Champagne. And that revelation just 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:38.839 fueled all sorts of public distrust and conspiracy 00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:41.140 theories about what the intelligence services 00:28:41.140 --> 00:28:43.400 knew and when they knew it. Was he ever held 00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:45.970 responsible? Raviv was later put on trial for 00:28:45.970 --> 00:28:47.849 failing to prevent the assassination, but he 00:28:47.849 --> 00:28:50.269 was acquitted. The court found there wasn't enough 00:28:50.269 --> 00:28:52.269 evidence that he knew about Amir's specific plot, 00:28:52.450 --> 00:28:54.789 but the whole episode just highlights the toxic 00:28:54.789 --> 00:28:57.289 political climate and the catastrophic intelligence 00:28:57.289 --> 00:28:59.789 failure that allowed it to happen. Even after 00:28:59.789 --> 00:29:02.509 his death, the Rabin name remains a force in 00:29:02.509 --> 00:29:06.009 Israeli politics. His daughter, Dalia Rabin Pelasov, 00:29:06.130 --> 00:29:08.569 later served as deputy minister of defense. The 00:29:08.569 --> 00:29:11.890 legacy endures. Hashtag, tag, tag. So we've traced 00:29:11.890 --> 00:29:15.250 this life. a life that was just a constant negotiation, 00:29:15.509 --> 00:29:18.849 a negotiation between force and diplomacy, between 00:29:18.849 --> 00:29:22.410 the ironclad needs of defense and the sheer pragmatism 00:29:22.410 --> 00:29:24.490 of peace. I think when you look at the whole 00:29:24.490 --> 00:29:27.170 arc, Rabin's story is ultimately defined by that 00:29:27.170 --> 00:29:30.190 incredible transformation. He goes from Ravalouf, 00:29:30.309 --> 00:29:32.710 the brilliant general of the Six -Day War, to 00:29:32.710 --> 00:29:34.710 the statesman who consciously chose the immense 00:29:34.710 --> 00:29:37.049 risks of politics over the certainties of military 00:29:37.049 --> 00:29:40.490 control. And the synthesis seems clear. The man 00:29:40.490 --> 00:29:43.240 who unleashed the Iron Fist policy, was also 00:29:43.240 --> 00:29:45.039 the man who was clear -eyed enough to see its 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:48.140 total failure. And that failure became the intellectual 00:29:48.140 --> 00:29:50.339 bridge that led him from the command bunker to 00:29:50.339 --> 00:29:53.220 the White House lawn. His military mind ultimately 00:29:53.220 --> 00:29:55.880 concluded that the era of relying only on military 00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:59.000 solutions was over. Which really underscores 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:01.299 this powerful idea that sometimes the deepest 00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:03.319 understanding of conflict, the kind you only 00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:05.660 get from commanding it for decades, is what's 00:30:05.660 --> 00:30:08.500 required to genuinely seek an alternative. And 00:30:08.500 --> 00:30:10.180 maybe we should leave our listeners with Rabin's 00:30:10.180 --> 00:30:12.579 own words. These were delivered when he accepted 00:30:12.579 --> 00:30:15.359 the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, and they carry 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:17.680 so much weight coming from him of all people. 00:30:17.900 --> 00:30:28.380 What did he say? He said, Wow. So what does this 00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:30.259 all mean for you listening to this? We'll leave 00:30:30.259 --> 00:30:32.920 you with this final thought to take away. If 00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:35.180 one of history's most accomplished generals ultimately 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:37.380 acknowledged the limits of military solutions, 00:30:37.740 --> 00:30:40.200 what can we learn from his life, from that long 00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:43.440 journey from the holy gun to shalom ever? What 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:45.819 strategic failures today might become the intellectual 00:30:45.819 --> 00:30:48.619 bridges to the necessary political risks of tomorrow? 00:30:48.859 --> 00:30:50.200 That's the real deep dive.