A few seconds after a pale Ichilov Hospital Director Prof. Barbash came out of the operating room, those few people who knew the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin well entered the room. "I was the only one who did not," Eytan Haber, Rabin’s Chief of Staff recalls. "I told people I didn’t want to remember him that way."
"The moment they notified me Yitzhak had been shot, I thought of a series of technical steps that had to be taken. I notified Clinton through the Ambassador, I tried to call King Hussein’s Chief of Staff. At first I thought it was only an injury, and I started to make phone calls to establish the Prime Minister’s Office in the hospital. "When Prof. Barbash told us that Yitzhak’s condition was critical, one thing was clear to me, Saturday evening was not going to be the start of a good week.
A moment after Prof. Barbash told us that Yitzhak was dead, I wrote the death announcement and showed it to Shimon Peres. He added the word "astonished". "The government of Israel is astonished to announce . . ." was the start of the announcement.
What do you miss the most?
Today I miss the man himself the most. And everything that stems from that. Working with him, including the admonitions and the compliments. The fascination of doing something positive, something the likes of which has never been done in Israel. From widening roads to peace with Jordan, reaching agreements with the Palestinians, attempting to reach a comprehensive peace, and the powerful opening up of the world to Israel"
With hindsight, are there things you would have done differently?
Yes, there are many things I would do differently. For instance, I would make public the quiet communication Yitzhak Rabin had with the settlers. For instance, a representative of the settlers saw the Oslo Accord map even before cabinet ministers. Yitzhak Rabin had many meetings with the leadership of the Judaea and Samaria settlement groups and many others from the other side of the political map. Various representatives of the religious and ultra-orthodox public. Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun always got a meeting in a matter of days. Just a week before the assassination, Rabin met with three rabbis from the Judaea and Samaria Rabbinical Council, who allegedly issued Law of the Pursuer against Rabin.
What do you think of the political situation today? Of King Hussein’s declarations, for instance.
My interpretation of the sharp criticism King Hussein leveled against Israel is very simple. One cannot expect King Hussein to sit in the bleachers and cheer while the two teams on the field, the Israelis and the Palestinians, run wild. Hussein is part of the Arab world. He isn’t a yeshiva student. He could not act otherwise, even if he wanted to. If the deterioration continues, Hussein will have no choice but to return to being part of the Arab world that doesn’t always tend to support Israel.
The government should start to think twice. It doesn’t have to answer to every one of Ehud Olmert’s whims. The entire matter of peace is in danger. I am aware of this in my communications with foreign businesspeople. In the world of economics and business, there is no one who doesn’t feel this at one level of severity or another.
Shimon Sheves said after the assassination that his country had ended. Leah Rabin said after the elections that she would take her suitcases and leave. Do you share those feelings?
My country didn’t end and I have no intention of packing my bags and running from here. I’ve had many moments of despair in this past year. Their number is increasing. I only hope that we are in a transition period after which we will once again become pursuers of peace, in an optimistic atmosphere.
What would Yitzhak Rabin say if he could see what has happened in this country in the past year?
He would go wild, as he did many times in the past, and say of the cabinet ministers what he had said about the members of his party in the Knesset.
That they are stupid?
I didn’t say that . . .