Marking 26 years after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israel held a series of events in his memory Oct. 18. There was an annual commemoration ceremony at the Mount Herzl National Cemetery, and the traditional special Knesset session dedicated to Rabin. Shortly before the ceremony at the cemetery, opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would not attend.

Netanyahu’s unusual decision not to participate in the memorial service set off a storm of responses from the Israeli left. It was yet another round of a fight that had been waged in Israel since that terrible night 26 years ago.

At the time of the assassination, Netanyahu was also chairman of the opposition. He headed an angry and belligerent right that fought a devastating battle, both publicly and politically, against the Oslo Accords signed by Rabin with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Those agreements were supposed to lay the groundwork for the creation of a Palestinian state.

At the time, Netanyahu argued that the Oslo Accords would go down in history as a terrible mistake and that they would only intensify Palestinian terrorism. At the time there was a series of brazen attacks in Israel’s major cities. Netanyahu opposed Rabin, demonstrating against the accords and speaking out against the agreement.