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A Palestinian State?
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To the Editor:
Hillel Halkin’s comments [“Israel & the Assassination: A Reckoning,” January] elegantly skirt key points involving Yitzhak Rabin’s image, the peace process, and Israel’s political climate.
Chiding Rabin’s mourners for elevating him over other murder victims and fallen soldiers ignores the unique effects of political assassination on any society. In this case, few Israelis have matched Rabin’s lifelong contributions. Mr. Halkin properly derides those who credit Rabin with expansive idealism, but applying this view to all of Rabin’s backers is grasping at straws. Apart from some dreamyeyed leftists, the “sentimentalization” derives precisely from Rabin’s pragmatism. And what Mr. Halkin calls the “instant mythologization” of Rabin was evident even before his death—certainly one could see it at the triumphant Saturday rally at which he was killed. . . .
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