Kikar Rabin 11/2/02
A friend works at Yitzhak Rabin’s annual memorial rally, every year. It’s convenient for him because he’s religious and it begins in the evening, giving him time to get to Tel Aviv from his home in one of the West Bank settlements on the “wrong” side of the green line, without breaking the Shabbat. He said that this year there were a lot less people than in the past. He said that he felt religious people were not welcome at the rally. He said that he was horrified to see at least six tables for signing petitions in support of refusing to serve in the territories, with big signs saying refusing is Zionism. He said that he thought this would have disgusted Rabin.

I also saw those banners on the TV. They were the biggest ones. They actually said: “Refusing to the occupation is Zionism”. It is quite clear that this means refusing to serve in the territories. It may be a roundabout way of saying it, but this is what any Israeli who sees such banners will understand them to mean.

My friend may live in a West Bank settlement, but I know him well enough to be quite certain that if he had to evacuate an outpost of settlers, he wouldn’t dream of refusing. This could actually happen. He does quite a lot of reserve duty.

Daniel Ben Simon (Hebrew link) was also at the rally. He also said there were much less people, this year. He pointed out that the percentage of young people attending was much higher than usual.

The younger people probably mainly know the post-mortem image of Rabin, which has little to do with anything real. They know nothing of Rabin the Politician, for instance. All they know is Rabin the Myth. Rabin the Peace Myth.

I am reminded of a girl, I knew once, who developed a crush on John Lennon in the aftermath of his murder. She had never heard of him before he was murdered.

Maybe the youngsters, who went to Kikar Rabin, last night, are nostalgic for something that, older people know, never existed.