Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be attending the annual memorial ceremony in honor of assassinated former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, according to a Tuesday morning report from 103FM.
This will mark the first time a sitting prime minister has chosen not to attend the Rabin memorial ceremony.
Rabin was assassinated by far-right extremist Yigal Amir on November 4, 1995, in the wake of progress in the Oslo Accords and the rise in terror attacks that followed it.
Why is Netanyahu skipping the ceremony?
Radio presenter Ron Koffman said of the reported PMO notification that the event has become too political for Netanyahu’s liking. “It’s a political ceremony every year and [Rabin’s] family always criticizes Netanyahu. So he said ‘Thank you very much, I’ll give it up.'”
“This is an event where every year he sits and some grandchild comes up to him and reprimands him,” said co-presenter Yinon Magal. “It’s not appropriate.”
However, Magal did argue that despite the difficulties, Netanyahu should still be present at the event as the sitting Prime Minister of Israel.
In 2021 and 2022 when Netanyahu was not sitting prime minister, he did not attend the Rabin memorial ceremonies either.
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