[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[October 24, 1996]
[Pages 1910-1911]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the Anniversary of the Assassination of Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin of Israel
October 24, 1996

    Today the Yartziet candle, symbol of the anniversary of a death, 
burns for my friend Yitzhak Rabin. So often, we recognize the true 
measure of a person only in retrospect, when someone is gone, and his or 
her legacy becomes clear. But once in a long while, a figure of 
greatness stands before our eyes, and we recognize it in an instant. 
Yitzhak Rabin was such a figure of greatness. And virtually all of us 
who knew him during his life saw that immediately.
    He lived the history of his nation, from the heroic struggles of 
Israel's birth to the repeated defense of its existence, to the quest 
for peace and acceptance after decades of conflict and bloodshed. He had 
an indomitable will which he dedicated without hesitation to the 
lifelong service of Israel's security.
    For a people who in 2,000 years of exile were too often powerless in 
the face of oppression, Yitzhak Rabin embodied the independence and 
self-sufficiency of modern Israel. And he possessed something else: the 
genius to see after a lifetime of war that the greatest safety for 
Israel's people can be attained when peace and security are one. Through 
deeds as well as words, he helped bring an entire region to the 
threshold of a new and better day. Yitzhak Rabin was truly a light unto 
the nations.
    It was one of the great privileges of my life to know Prime Minister 
Rabin and to have

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worked with him for the benefit of the people of Israel and all the 
Middle East. I'll always remember the first time we met at the White 
House. He told me that he had a mandate from the people of Israel to 
take calculated risks for peace. And I told him that I would be his 
partner in advancing peace and in minimizing those risks. That was my 
pledge to him, and that remains my commitment to the people of Israel. I 
will do all I can to preserve Yitzhak Rabin's legacy by helping Israel 
to make a secure peace with its neighbors.
    A year has passed. The wounds of loss have not yet healed. But the 
memory of Prime Minister Rabin remains a powerful inspiration to me and 
to people the world over. In March I visited Har Herzl. In keeping with 
the Jewish tradition of only adding to the memory of those who have died 
and never detracting from it, I put a small stone from the South Lawn of 
the White House on his grave. That stone symbolizes the depth of my 
feeling for my friend Yitzhak Rabin and the unshakable bond between our 
two nations, which he did so much to strengthen.
    Today, on the anniversary of his death, I ask all men and women of 
good will to join me in adding to the memory of this remarkable man by 
carrying on the struggle for security and peace for Israel and 
reconciliation for the peoples of the Middle East. Yitzhak Rabin made 
that struggle his last work. Now it is our responsibility to make good 
on his legacy.

Note: The President's remarks were videotaped at 5 p.m. on October 17 at 
the Sheraton Universal in Los Angeles, CA, for broadcast on October 24.