25 Yitzhak Rabin Quotes on Peace, Security, and Courage
Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995) was an Israeli politician and general who served twice as Prime Minister and was assassinated for his pursuit of peace with the Palestinians. Born in Jerusalem to pioneering Zionist parents, he fought in Israel's War of Independence, commanded the Israel Defense Forces during their lightning victory in the Six-Day War of 1967, and later evolved from a military hawk into a statesman willing to trade land for peace. He was shot by a Jewish extremist opposed to the Oslo peace process at a peace rally in Tel Aviv in 1995.
On September 13, 1993, on the White House lawn, the world watched in astonishment as Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with Yasser Arafat, the man he had spent his entire military career fighting. The handshake, gently guided by President Bill Clinton, sealed the Oslo Accords and represented a seismic shift in Middle Eastern politics. Rabin -- a lifelong soldier with a warrior's face and a gravelly voice -- was visibly uncomfortable, and later admitted that shaking Arafat's hand was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Yet he understood that peace required courage of a different kind than war. At the signing ceremony, he spoke words that captured both his anguish and his hope: "Enough of blood and tears. Enough." Two years later, he was murdered at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. His last words were the lyrics of a peace song whose sheet music, stained with his blood, was found in his jacket pocket. His observation that "you don't make peace with friends; you make peace with very unsavory enemies" remains the most honest statement about the painful necessity of compromise ever made by a leader at war.
Who Was Yitzhak Rabin?
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Born | March 1, 1922, Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine |
| Died | November 4, 1995 (age 73), Tel Aviv, Israel (assassinated) |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Role | Prime Minister of Israel (1974-1977, 1992-1995) |
| Known For | Oslo Accords, 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, Six-Day War victory, assassination |
Key Achievements and Episodes
The Six-Day War: Military Triumph
As Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Rabin planned and led the military campaign that resulted in Israel's stunning victory in the Six-Day War of June 1967. In just 132 hours, Israeli forces destroyed the Egyptian Air Force on the ground, captured the Sinai Peninsula, took the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and seized the Golan Heights from Syria. The victory trebled Israel's territory and transformed the strategic landscape of the Middle East. Rabin became a national hero, though he suffered what was described as a "nervous exhaustion" on the eve of the war due to the enormous pressure of command.
The Oslo Accords: The Handshake That Shook the World
On September 13, 1993, Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn, with President Clinton standing between them. The moment of the handshake -- Rabin visibly reluctant, Clinton gently guiding him -- was broadcast to a global audience of hundreds of millions. The accords established a framework for Palestinian self-governance and mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO. Rabin told the audience: "Enough of blood and tears. Enough." He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
Assassination at a Peace Rally
On November 4, 1995, after addressing a massive peace rally of over 100,000 people in Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square, Rabin was shot and killed by Yigal Amir, a right-wing Israeli extremist who opposed the Oslo peace process. Rabin was seventy-three years old. In his last speech, minutes before his assassination, he had told the crowd: "I was a military man for twenty-seven years. I fought so long as there was no chance for peace. I believe that there is now a chance for peace, a great chance, and we must take advantage of it." The square was renamed Rabin Square in his memory. His assassination dealt a devastating blow to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
On Peace and the Oslo Process
Yitzhak Rabin's pursuit of peace with the Palestinians through the Oslo Accords represented the most dramatic transformation in Israeli-Arab relations since the Camp David Accords and cost him his life. His pragmatic observation that "you don't make peace with friends; you make it with very unsavory enemies" reflected the hard-won wisdom of a career soldier who had spent decades fighting the very people he now sought to reconcile with. The historic handshake with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993, visibly uncomfortable and gently guided by President Clinton's hand on his back, became one of the most iconic images of the twentieth century and symbolized the possibility of reconciliation between peoples who had been locked in conflict for over four decades. Rabin and Arafat, along with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts, though Rabin's acceptance speech reflected more caution than triumph, acknowledging the enormous obstacles that remained. The Oslo process, which established Palestinian self-governance in parts of the West Bank and Gaza, was bitterly opposed by extremists on both sides -- Israeli settlers who saw it as a betrayal of the biblical Land of Israel and Palestinian factions who rejected any compromise short of full liberation.
"You don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies."
Explanation of his decision to negotiate with the PLO
"We must fight terrorism as if there is no peace process, and work to achieve peace as if there is no terrorism."
Statement on the dual imperative of security and diplomacy
"Enough of blood and tears. Enough."
Oslo Accords signing ceremony, White House, September 13, 1993
"We say to you today in a loud and clear voice: enough of blood and tears. Enough. We have no desire for revenge. We harbor no hatred towards you. We, like you, are people who want to build a home, to plant a tree, to love, to live side by side with you in dignity, in empathy, as human beings, as free men."
Address at the Oslo Accords signing ceremony, 1993
"I was a military man for twenty-seven years. I fought as long as there was no chance for peace. I believe that there is now a chance for peace, a great chance, and we must take advantage of it."
Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, December 10, 1994
"Peace is not made with friends. Peace is made with enemies, some of whom I might add you detest."
Restatement of his core belief about the nature of peace negotiations
"I enter this course because I believe that the risks of peace are preferable to the grim certainties that await every nation in war."
Statement on the calculated risks of pursuing peace
On Security and Military Service
Rabin's military career, spanning the founding of the Israeli state through the decisive victory of the Six-Day War, gave him unique credibility as a peacemaker because no one could accuse him of being soft on security. As chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1964 to 1968, he planned and commanded the lightning military campaign of June 1967 that tripled Israel's territory in six days, capturing the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. His insistence that Israel's existence depends on its capacity to fight but that "if this is its only capacity, its existence will cease to have meaning" articulated the fundamental tension between security and values that has defined Israeli political debate since the state's founding. Rabin's first term as Prime Minister (1974-1977) followed the traumatic Yom Kippur War and was marked by the Entebbe rescue operation of July 1976, in which Israeli commandos freed hostages held by Palestinian and German hijackers in Uganda -- one of the most daring military operations in history, in which his brother-in-law was among the force commanders. His transformation from warrior to peacemaker reflected a deepening understanding, acquired over decades of military service, that security cannot be achieved through military force alone but requires political accommodation and recognition of the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.
"The State of Israel's existence depends on its capacity to fight, but if this is its only capacity, its existence will cease to have meaning."
Reflections on the relationship between military strength and national purpose
"I believe that it is my duty, as a leader who has sent soldiers into battle, to do everything in my power to ensure that no more soldiers need to die."
Statement on the moral obligations of a military leader turned peacemaker
"We do not celebrate the triumphs of war. We mourn the loss of life, even the lives of our enemies. This is what distinguishes us as a moral nation."
Address on the moral dimensions of military victory
"Military service taught me that there are no good wars, only necessary ones. And the best military leaders are those who work to make their profession unnecessary."
Reflections on the paradox of the soldier's vocation
"No Arab country will make peace with us unless we are strong. But strength alone will not bring us peace."
Statement on the necessary but insufficient role of military power
"Security is the foundation upon which peace must be built, but peace is the goal that gives security its ultimate purpose."
Remarks on the interdependence of security and peace
On Courage and Leadership
Rabin's final speech at the massive peace rally in Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square (now Rabin Square) on November 4, 1995, just minutes before his assassination, was a passionate appeal for peace and reconciliation that has become one of the most emotionally powerful political statements in Israeli history. Speaking to an estimated 100,000 supporters who had gathered to demonstrate support for the Oslo peace process, Rabin declared that "violence undermines the foundations of Israeli democracy" and called on the nation to take "the path of peace." His words took on unbearable poignancy when, as he left the stage, a Jewish extremist named Yigal Amir shot him twice at close range, killing the Prime Minister who had dedicated the final chapter of his career to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Amir, a law student and religious nationalist, believed that Rabin's territorial concessions to the Palestinians violated Jewish religious law and justified assassination -- a horrifying demonstration of the extremism that the peace process had provoked among its opponents. Rabin's assassination at age seventy-three by a Jewish Israeli citizen, rather than by an Arab enemy, shocked the nation and the world, revealing the depth of division within Israeli society over the fundamental question of whether peace with the Palestinians was possible or desirable.
"This rally must send a message to the Israeli public, to the Jewish people around the world, to the many people in the Arab world, and indeed to the entire world, that the Israeli people want peace, support peace."
Final speech at the peace rally, Tel Aviv, November 4, 1995
"I have always believed that the majority of the people want peace and are ready to take risks for peace. I have been proven right."
Remarks on public support for the peace process
"A leader who does not hesitate before sending his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader."
Reflections on the gravity of decisions involving war and peace
"The road to peace is not paved with good intentions alone. It requires hard work, painful compromises, and the courage to face one's own people with unpopular truths."
Remarks on the demands of genuine peacemaking
"I served in the army for decades. I know war. And because I know war, I know that peace is worth any sacrifice."
Statement on his personal journey from military commander to peace advocate
On Israel and the Future
Rabin's vision of Israel's future -- a nation at peace with its neighbors, secure in its borders, and liberated from the moral burden of permanent occupation -- remains the unfulfilled aspiration of the Israeli peace movement and a source of ongoing political debate. His conviction that "Israel's future does not lie in permanent occupation" and that "this land must be shared" represented a fundamental break with the maximalist territorial ideology of the Israeli right and proposed instead a pragmatic division of the land based on demographic realities and mutual security guarantees. The peace process he initiated, though it ultimately failed to produce a final-status agreement, established the principle of Israeli-Palestinian negotiation and the framework of two states for two peoples that remains the internationally endorsed formula for resolving the conflict. The annual memorial ceremony at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, attended by tens of thousands of Israelis who light candles and sing peace songs, keeps alive the memory of a leader who believed that the courage to make peace is greater than the courage to make war. Rabin's legacy challenges future Israeli and Palestinian leaders to find the moral courage and political wisdom to complete the work he began, demonstrating that warriors who choose peace are the bravest soldiers of all.
"Israel's future does not lie in permanent occupation. Our future lies in peace, in partnership, and in the recognition that this land must be shared."
Address on the long-term vision for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
"We are destined to live together on the same soil in the same land. We, the soldiers who have returned from battle stained with blood, we who have seen our relatives and friends killed before our eyes, we say to you today in a loud and a clear voice: enough."
Nobel Peace Prize lecture, 1994
"I want to tell the youth of Israel: do not be afraid of peace. Do not be afraid of taking risks for peace, because peace is the only future worth fighting for."
Appeal to Israeli youth to embrace the peace process
"I permitted myself to sing a song of peace. It is not something one does easily. But it must be done."
Remarks at the peace rally moments before his assassination, November 4, 1995
Frequently Asked Questions about Yitzhak Rabin Quotes
What is Yitzhak Rabin's most famous quote?
Rabin is best remembered for "Enough of blood and tears. Enough," delivered at the September 13, 1993 Oslo Accords signing on the White House lawn. He is also widely cited for "You don't make peace with friends; you make peace with very unsavory enemies."
What did Rabin say about peace?
Moments before his assassination at the Tel Aviv peace rally on November 4, 1995, Rabin said, "I permitted myself to sing a song of peace. It is not something one does easily. But it must be done." A bloodstained sheet of the peace song's lyrics was found in his jacket pocket.
What was the Oslo handshake?
On September 13, 1993, on the White House lawn, Rabin shook hands with Yasser Arafat — the man he had spent his entire military career fighting — under President Bill Clinton's gentle guidance. Rabin later admitted that shaking Arafat's hand was one of the hardest things he had ever done. He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Arafat and Shimon Peres.
When did Rabin serve as Prime Minister?
Rabin served twice as Prime Minister of Israel. As IDF Chief of Staff he directed the Six-Day War of June 1967; as Prime Minister he negotiated the Oslo Accords. He was assassinated on November 4, 1995 by a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process.
Why is Yitzhak Rabin still quoted today?
A lifelong soldier who evolved into a statesman willing to trade land for peace and was murdered for it, Rabin made the most honest statement about the painful necessity of compromise ever made by a leader at war. His phrasing on peace, courage, and unsavory enemies continues to anchor every Middle East negotiation.
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