Vol. 40, No. 2
Spring 2010
BOOK TALK
(Book talk is presented by Reader Advisor Henry Hayden and is a review of a featured book. Comments and suggestions are invited either through
email or by calling 602-255-5578.)
Murder In the Name of God: The Plot to Kill Yitzhak Rabin
By Michael Karpin and Ina Friedman
RC 49200
292 pages on three cassettes
Narrated by Bill Wallace
From the Book Jacket
“A dramatic tale of intrigue and malice,
Murder In The Name of God investigates and re-creates the tragic event of November 4th, 1995. On that night, a twenty-five-year-old student Yigar Amir, fired three shots that killed Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, an act that changed the course of the Middle East peace process.
Based on exhaustive research, including an exclusive interview with the assassin,
Murder In The Name of God is the first book to give the full story of the people whose words and deeds made Rabin’s assassination possible: the extremist rabbis who condemned Rabin by invoking an arcane Talmudic ruling; the right-wing politicians who joined in a sophisticated campaign of incitement against him; the militant Israeli settlers for whom the Oslo accords spelled betrayal; and the security agents who saw what was coming but failed to prevent it.
More than a tale of assassination,
Murder In The Name of God is a powerful indictment of a society’s failure of will, its reluctance to look at itself honestly, and its unwillingness to bring its own enemies to justice.”
Reader Advisor Henry’s Thoughts
This is one of the most fascinating books pertaining to the middle east peace process that I have ever read. It is so important because this single event – the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin- totally changed the peace process and placed the Oslo accords secondary to conservative national interests as continuing the establishment of Israeli settlements in occupied territories.
Murder In The Name of God clearly shows how the assassination of one of Israel’s most loved politicians put conservative nationalistic elements in power that continue to prevent a lasting peace in the middle east.