Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog was right in his quick decision to assume responsibility for the annual memorial event marking the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. It was a necessary move for his party, which has lost its way over the years and in many ways abandoned the legacy of its fallen leader.
On Oct. 30 it was published that this would be the first time that there would be no large annual gathering to mark Rabin's assassination. The event, which has always taken place in the Tel Aviv square that now bears Rabin's name, was canceled due to lack of funding. For the first 15 years, the Rabin Center produced the event. For the past five years, the National Association of Youth Movements took over. These latter events were apolitical in tone. Certain politicians were even excluded to ensure that the assassination was transformed into a collective memory that both left and right could live with.
