Whose memorial is it anyway?

In several days, the leftist camp will shame, yes shame, those who cherish the memory of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995. Next Saturday, in the square named after him, a rally will be held, followed by another exactly a week later, at the same hour and in the same place. These are two politically motivated memorial events sponsored by the Left. On the 17th anniversary of Rabin's murder, the official state ceremony will be held on Mount Herzl, as it is every year.

I was recently approached by members of the Dror Israel movement (a multi-generation social movement established by graduates of the youth movement Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed, or, "The Federation of Working and Studying Youth"). They wanted to meet, apparently, to explain their insistence on staging their own separate memorial event, besides the one traditionally organized by event producer Chemi Sal. Ever since Rabin's murder, Sal, a graduate of the youth group Hashomer Hatzair ("The Youth Guard"), has produced the annual rally at Rabin Square. But this year, his rally may not be as crowded as usual. That is nature's way: memories fade, even memories of an assassinated prime minister.

This and more: Due to the political nature of the events — to the point of lashing out and making generalized accusations against the Right — rightists and religious Zionists have stayed away from the square, feeling, and rightfully so in my opinion, that they are not welcome there. It is important to note that prominent figures from the Right have spoken at these events in the past, but former minister Natan Sharansky, for example, was once jeered and booed when he came to address the rally.

What are Dror Israel claiming? That the traditional event does not "place enough emphasis on the phenomenon of incitement that preceded the murder," as they told me. They feel that Sal's event focuses too much on the Oslo Accords. Dror Israel's members think that a memorial rally honoring Rabin should be used as an opportunity to do some penetrating soul searching and confront Israeli society head on with the democratic values of our nation. In other words: a strong emphasis on politics. Dror Israel, as I understand it, seeks to further accentuate the existing disputes within the Israeli public, and they want to do this at a memorial for Rabin. On the other hand, Sal responds, prominent left-wingers and Peace Now activists like Yossi Sarid and Hagit Ofran have spoken at the traditional rally.

The result this year will be embarrassing for the Left: two separate rallies in the square. The two camps have been exchanging documents and memos to achieve a worthy objective — to hold one joint rally — but to no avail. A review of the memos, the protocols and the so-called work documents exchanged between the two camps boggles the mind. So many texts and explanations befitting a cease-fire agreement between two armies at the end of a war, not a simple effort to achieve a written agreement between two camps that, I'm sorry to say, even an electron microscope couldn't find the differences between. An outside observer, or perhaps outside reader, can do nothing but giggle at the verbal and written exchanges.

And another thing, as long as we're trying to learn lessons: The thing that should really occupy both these camps, and especially the members of Dror Israel, is that one can either focus on Rabin's memory, or on a power struggle within the Left that elicits nothing but mockery — that is what I told the Dror Israel people who met with me, at their request. Is this, two separate rallies a week apart, how the Left would like to commemorate Rabin's memory? What message does this communicate to the average citizen who cares about Rabin's memory? The citizens are still scandalized by the terrible assassination, even 17 years on, but the political fire does not burn in their hearts as it does among the divided camps.

I have raised the possibility — unlikely, one must admit — that the organizers of the rally at Rabin Square would invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak. Obviously this has never happened before, and apparently never will.

I once heard journalist Eitan Haber, a former adviser to Rabin, say in a radio interview "why not-" to the option of Netanyahu speaking at the rally. He wasn't shocked. If it were to actually happen, it would undoubtedly elicit harsh criticism at Netanyahu's very presence, but maybe the public would get a different feeling, certainly different from the divisive sentiments currently inhabiting the leftist circles ahead of the anniversary of Rabin's death.

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