Thirty-one years after Rabin’s assassination, a look back at his life and final rally

November 4, 2026, marks 31 years since Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a far-right Jewish activist, after a large peace rally in Tel Aviv. The gathering took place in Kings of Israel Square, which is now called Rabin Square, outside the city hall.

More than 100,000 people attended the rally, alongside Israeli officials including Shimon Peres, Rabin’s political rival. The event came as Rabin pursued the Oslo peace process, through which he had agreed to relinquish some territory captured in the 1967 Six-Day War to the Palestinian Liberation Organization in exchange for peace.

The Oslo Accords comprised agreements between Israel and the PLO aimed at negotiating a two-state solution. Their ultimate objective was to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by May 1999. Rabin’s support for those negotiations formed part of his efforts to advance peace during his second term in office.

As Rabin left the rally, the security agent behind him fell back for reasons that remain unknown in the account. Shots then rang out, and agents moved the prime minister into his armored vehicle. Asked by an agent whether he had been injured, Rabin said his back hurt. He then lost consciousness, having spoken his final words.

Rabin had been struck by two bullets. One hit his aorta, while the other struck his spleen and lodged in his spine. He was taken to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital for emergency surgery. At 11 p.m. that night, his death was announced on television.

Before the assassination, Amir, his brother and a close friend had planned three attacks against Rabin, all of which failed. Amir initially received a sentence of life imprisonment plus six years. That punishment was subsequently increased to life plus 14 years on conspiracy and murder counts.

Israel’s fifth prime minister, Rabin first held office from 1974 to 1977. He returned to the premiership in 1992 and remained in the post until his assassination. His career also included military leadership: as a lieutenant general during the Six-Day War, he earned recognition from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Rabin also helped the Israel Defense Forces recover after the devastating 1973 Yom Kippur War. During his first term as prime minister, he ordered the hostage rescue mission at Entebbe known as Operation Yonatan. His work for peace later brought him the Nobel Peace Prize, which he received on December 10, 1994, less than a year before his death.