Yitzhak Rabin

Yitzhak Rabin (Hebrew: יצחק רבין) was an Israeli politician, statesman, general and the 5th and 11th Prime Minister of Israel.

Yitzhak Rabin was born in Jerusalem in 1922. He studied at the Kadoorie Agricultural College where he graduated with distinction.

His military career began in 1940 when he joined the “Palmach”, the elite unit of the Haganah. For the next 20 years, he served with the IDF as Chief of Staff, commanding the IDF during the Six-Day War.

In 1968, he retired from military service and shortly afterward was appointed an ambassador to the United States.

In 1973, Rabin returned to Israel and became active in the Labour Party. He was elected Member of the Knesset in December 1973 and when Golda Meir formed her government in April 1974, was appointed Minister of Labour.

In 1974, the Knesset expressed confidence in a new government headed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

During Rabin’s premiership, the government placed special emphasis on strengthening the economy, solving social problems and reinforcing the IDF.

Following the 1977 elections, and until the formation of the National Unity Government in September 1984, Rabin served as a Knesset Member of the Labour Party in opposition and was a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Rabin was elected chairman of the Israel Labour Party in its first nationwide primaries conducted in February 1992 and led the party to victory in the June 1992 Knesset elections.

In July 1992, Rabin formed Israel’s 25th government and became its 11th Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, and acting Minister of Religious Affairs and Labour and Social Affairs.

In 1994, Rabin won The Nobel Peace Prize, together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat.

On November 4, 1995, Rabin was shot to death by a Jewish assassin, at the end of a mass demonstration in Kikar Malchei Yisrael in Tel Aviv in support of the peace process.

Credits:
nobelprize.org