Yitzhak Rabin - the Fifth Prime Minister of Israel

Yitzhak Rabin -  the Fifth Prime-
Minister of Israel

Yitzhak Rabin was born in Jerusalem, on March 1, 1922. He was raised by his parents, Nehemia and Rosa Rabin who were active in the political party Ahdut Ha'avoda.

Rabin studied at Beit Hinuch Leyaldei Ovdim in Tel Aviv and completed his schooling at the Kadoorie Agricultural High School. Upon his graduation he joined the Palmach a section of the Haganah underground defense organization. This was the time of WWII and the British Mandate to Palestine and Rabin had distinguished himself as a military leader back then.
In 1947 Rabin commanded the Harel Brigade during the War of Independence, of country which became a year later the state of Israel. The brigade's mission was keeping the troubled way to Jerusalem open for supply convoys. 

With the establishment of the young Jewish state in 1948 Rabin joind the IDF and embarked on a military career which spanned two decades.

In 1962 he was appointed as the seventh Israeli Chief of the General Staff and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General. In this role he commanded in June 1967, over Israel's impressive military victory in the Six Day War. . In January 1968, after 26 years in uniform, Rabin retired from the IDF.

In February 1968 Rabin was appointed as Israel's Ambassador to Washington where he left a distinct mark on US-Israel relations and played a major role in promoting the strategic cooperation with the United States. He retired from the ambassador position and returned to Israel in 1973, just before the Yom Kippur War. 

Back in Israel, Rabin became an active member of the Israeli Labor party and he was elected MK (Member of Knesset – the Israel parliament) in December 1973. 

He served as Minister of Labor in Golda Meir's government formed by in March 1974. This government resigned shortly thereafter, and on June 2, 1974, the Knesset voted confidence in the new government formed by Yitzhak Rabin.

In 1977 a no-confidence vote toppled Rabin's government, sparking new elections. Shortly before 1977 general elections, a disclosure of his wife's bank account in the USA - an infringement on foreign currency regulations - prompted Rabin to resign from the party leadership. Those elections led opposition leader Menachem Begin into office.

In 1984 Rabin was appointed Minister of Defense, in which capacity he served until March 1990. 

In February 1992 Rabin regained the Labor Party leadership and following the election victory in June 1992, he was appointed Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

In his second tenure as Prime Minister in September 13, 1993, he signed the Declaration of Principles with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, which included mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestinians and Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and Jericho effectively forming the Palestinian authority.

On October 26, 1994, Rabin signed a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. 

Together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin was granted the Nobel Prize for Peace in December 1994.

On November 4, 1995, while leaving a mass demonstration for peace, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist. He died at the Age of 73. 

Rabin was buried in Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem and his funeral was attended by world leaders.

Available in our Etsy shop: