Letter From Shimon Peres to HUC-JIR Concerning the Assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin

In 1995, the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli ultra-nationalist. The assassination happened at the peak of an anti-violence rally in support of the Oslo peace process, an attempt to create a framework for finding a solution to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. Rabin, his successor, Shimon Peres, and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman Yasser Arafat had received the Nobel Peace Prize for the signing of the Oslo Accords just one year prior. In this letter dated December 7, 1995, Prime Minister Shimon Peres thanks the administration of HUC-JIR for its condolences and demands that we “mobilize all our efforts…toward fulfilling the legacy of Yitzhak Rabin—the chance for peace for our children and grandchildren.”

Letter from Shimon Peres to HUC-JIR concerning the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Dec. 1995. RD-605. American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio.