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December 10, 1995
Web posted at: 3:45 p.m. EST
NEW YORK (CNN) -- An overflow crowd of 15,000, including Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and U.S. Vice President Al Gore, packed Madison Square Garden on Sunday for a memorial service for slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Among the speakers was Rabin's widow, Leah Rabin, who said her husband worked for peace every day for 57 years. "From the age of 16 until his very last breath, Yitzhak struggled and hoped, day and night, for the things that meant the most to him: peace, security and the well-being for the state of Israel," she said. (272K AIFF sound or 272K WAV sound)
Mrs. Rabin called for a change in "the climate of hatred and violence that eventually brought about the assassination". (187K AIFF sound or 187K WAV sound) "It was legitimate to call for all these very loud, very violent demonstrations, to dominate the streets of Israel with ugly posters, with horrible language," she said. "Now, 30 days later, you don't see the ugly posters. Gone are the violent, full of hatred demonstrations."
An extremist Jew, Yigal Amir, has confessed to killing Rabin, and has said he has no regrets about it.
Peres began his speech with a message "to my fellow Jews," saying, "Yitzhak Rabin never tried to please you. He tried to lead you."
He called on Israelis to be unified, despite their disagreements over the peace process. "We are one people," Peres said. "May I suggest unity. ... Let's argue, not hate."
Peres said the reaction to Rabin's assassination convinced him that Arabs also want peace. "The grief ... and sorrow that was shown in many of the Arab quarters -- not in all of them -- was, in our eyes, the first expression that the Arabs are willing for peace," Peres said.
The prime minister also told the New York audience that his predecessor was a good friend and great admirer of the United States. (170K AIFF sound or 170K WAV sound)
Gore remembered Rabin as "a man of grace, courage and quiet dignity. ... Above all, he shall be remembered as the consummate man of Israel, one who always put substance before style, action before acclaim, and ideals above ideology."
The memorial service was sponsored by two U.S. Jewish groups and was broadcast live in Israel. It also featured children's choirs (238K AIFF sound or 238K WAV sound), remarks from rabbis, and a performance of the peace song that Rabin and a stage full of activists sang during the rally just before he was killed on November 4 in Tel Aviv.
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