Thousands honor slain PM Yitzhak Rabin at Haifa ceremony

The main ceremony marking 20 years since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin took place Thursday evening in Haifa. The ceremony also announced the launch of a pre-military preparatory program to be based in the city's Hadar neighborhood and named after the slain prime minister.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, and Emir Muhammad Sharif, head of Haifa's Ahmadi Muslim movement spoke at the ceremony. Some 2,000 people were present.

In his speech, Herzog addressed the incitement that preceded Rabin's assassination and warned against another political murder: "Since the murder, the forces in Israel seeking to kill democracy have grown stronger. We won't give in to them, we'll fight them with all our strength, courage and truth that Yitzhak [Rabin] lived by."

Bennett promised that "we will keep Jerusalem united -- the city Yitzhak Rabin fought for and dreamed of."

Bennett also referred to the first political murder -- Gedaliah Ben Ahikam, who was chosen to rule over the residents of Judea after the Babylonian conquest. Shortly after he entered the position, he was murdered by a Jew.

"On the 12th of [the Hebrew month of] Heshvan, Nov. 4, 1995, a second despicable murderer from our own people rose and decided to cut shot the life of a democratically elected leader. That night in the square, a 'dark chasm' opened up in the core of Israeli society, like the phrase in the song that was sung on the stage of the rally, words soaked in the blood of Yitzhak Rabin," he said.

Attorney Danny Zamir, founder of Mechinat Rabin, the Yitzhak Rabin Pre-Military Leadership Development Academy and CEO of Israel Zionist Leadership Academies, announced the founding of another pre-military leadership preparatory program in honor of Rabin.

"Haifa was chosen for the program as a symbol of coexistence and living together," Zamir said.

The Haifa Rabin program will combine study and community work with the goal of preparing its graduates to take on leadership roles in the military and subsequently in civilian life. The program will launch with 45 participants in the first year and expects to double the number within three years. Program participants will live in the Hadar neighborhood and volunteer with children and at-risk youth.

In Tel Aviv, some 3,000 people took part in Rabin-themed walking tours held in Tel Aviv, where he was raised and eventually killed. The tours were a collaboration between the Rabin Center and the Jewish National Fund and took visitors past points that were key in Rabin's life and in to the history of the state. All of the tours concluded with a commemorative ceremony at the Yitzhak Rabin Center, feature performances by IDF entertainment troupes and the IDF Theater.

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