Yitzhak Rabin’s Son Tells CNN’s Chris Cuomo GOP Must Denounce Trump

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:03 pm

Previously, we saw Yuval Rabin issue a warning against Trump’s dangerous call for Second Amendment remedies via an op-ed published in USAToday. There he warned, “In Israel, incitement such as this led to the murder of my father, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, 20 years ago.”

On Tuesday, he followed this up with an appearance on CNN’s New Day:

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YUVAL RABIN: To reflect my sense, living about a third of my life over 20 years, was the sense of a lost opportunity with a sense that I was the — I saw what’s happening and failed to take action. And I think I’m expressing the view of many Israelis that felt very similarly in the aftermath of my father’s assassination. I saw the progression of things in the U.S. campaign, latest campaign, and saw the analogies and eventually I felt that I cannot stay silent any longer and want to raise the flag and the warning light that things, where do things ending in a situation like this? The atmosphere is toxic, as you mentioned, and I think it was my responsibility to sound the bell, ring the bell to at least bring the discussion to the — to raise the discussion, like others did.
 
CHRIS CUOMO (HOST) : And what is that discussion, Yuval? What do you want people to see in the words of Donald Trump? Those who see it as just hot-headed political talk and the nature of a campaign. What do you see that’s worse than that?
 
RABIN: So I want to make things very clear. I think the debate is very legitimate. It can be fierce, it can be tough. There’s no question that the election season brings up a debate and about expressions are being made. But I think, as I’d like to say, words do kill and the politicians have to exercise self-restraint and know where the line must not be crossed. Especially when you have, and I think this is quite a similar situation, where you have a divided nation, where you have people feeling that one side is totally wrong and the others feel the other side is very wrong. This contentious times had required the restraint of the politicians in order not to result to incitement and personal denigrations. And I will stick to our example. We saw this and it wasn’t just a matter of days or weeks. It was an ongoing campaign where my father was depicted as a murderer, as a Nazi, as a — many other despicable ways that eventually led an intelligent, capable, ideologically motivated person to take an action. And he felt that he had all the legitimacy in the world to do the action that he did. So I think by raising this parallel, it is my obligation to bring it up for public discussion.
 
CUOMO: What do you think that members of Trump’s party, Republicans, mamebers of the GOP should be saying about the president being the founder of ISIS?
 
RABIN: I think first of all they definitely have to denounce it and speak out. This is the time to speak out. I think politicians have to speak to policy and real facts on the ground…
 
America has known political assassinations, and quite a few of them, and I think it’s only natural that people should be alarmed when unfounded, unreasonable allegations are being made…

It has been recognized that not only do words legitimize violence, but that words themselves can be a form of violence, and Rabin is right to say that “words do kill and the politicians have to exercise self-restraint and know where the line must not be crossed.”

Trump, with his avowed disdain for “political correctness,” has shown no regard for that line, or even any recognition that it exists. And if he draws negative attention, he has, like a child, craved even that, and when necessary in the face of mounting outrage, simply pretended he never said it or accused the media of accurate quoting him as though it is their fault he talks like a madman.

Yuval Rabin has shown what this kind of rhetoric can lead to, and Trump supporters have already shown a propensity to violence, and a readiness to answer their hero’s call.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.