Author Dan Ephron, whose new book documents the events that led to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the assassination’s aftermath, was APN’s guest on a briefing call on November 2, 2015.

In Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel, Ephron tells the parallel stories of Rabin and his assassin, Yigal Amir, during the two years leading up to the murder, and sets the scene to the two decades that followed.

Ephron is an award-winning writer, who has served as the Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek and the Daily Beast, and now lives in New York City.

Rejecting any claim that settlements play a part in the current violence, Netanyahu has adopted data showing he's built less than his predecessors. But don't believe the statistics.

This past Saturday, October 31st, Peace Now and other groups organized a rally in honor of the memory of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Attended by more than 100,000 Israelis, the rally was held in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv where the late PM was assassinated by a right-wing extremist.

Speakers included US President Barack Obama on a pre-recorded video feed and former President Bill Clinton, who attended the rally.

President Clinton, who considered Rabin a personal friend, and coined the phrase shalom chaver (goodbye, friend) immediately following the murder, said: "[Rabin] refused to give up his dream of peace in the face of violence . . . The next step will be determined by whether you decide that Yitzhak Rabin was right, that you have to share the future with your neighbors ... that the risks for peace are not as severe as the risk of walking away from it. Those of us who loved him and love your country are praying that you will make the right decision."

President Obama said: "In these difficult days for Israel, for Palestinians, for the region, Yitzhak's life, his dream, inspire us still." Obama added, "A bullet can take a man's life, but his spirit, his dream of peace, will never die."

Click here  to watch video clips of the remarks by President Obama and former President Clinton.

This week, Alpher discusses whether, in the wake of the mass demonstration in Tel Aviv marking the twentieth anniversary of the murder of Yitzhak Rabin and his assassin’s brother “celebrating” the occasion by suggesting that God remove President Rivlin and his associates from the world, Israel has learned anything from Rabin’s death; if diplomatic negotiations in Vienna regarding an agreed solution for Syria have any meaning, given Russian bombing in southern Syria near the Israeli border, Iran sending more and more troops to Syria, the US sending 50 commandos, and Israel reportedly still intercepting Syrian arms shipments to Hezbollah; a "compare and contrast" of US and Russian military behavior in Syria; how Russian military involvement affects Israel’s decision-making regarding Syria; and potential factors for change there in addition to the Russian and Iranian military presence in Syria and the new US token deployment;

  Dr. Gail Weigl, APN volunteer and a professor of art history, reviewed Dan Ephron's new book on Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, published on the 20th anniversary of the murder that changed Israel. 

Dan Ephron, Killing A King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel (New York and London, 2015), 257 pages.  $27.95

A heartbreaking chronicle of the circumstances leading to and following from the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Killing A King is a brilliant and comprehensive analysis of the quest for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and of the ultra-Orthodox opposition to that quest. While the subtitle, The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel, might sound grandiose to some, Ephron in fact convincingly proves the case that Rabin’s assassination catalyzed the remaking of an Israel increasingly dominated today by right-wing political and religious extremists. In his telling, even-handed though he may be, they are the primary if not the only villains of the piece.

Lara Friedman op-ed: Time for a New Israel-Palestine Peacemaking Paradigm (Huffington Post, 10/29/2015)

Ori Nir op-ed: What Yitzhak Rabin left behind (Boston Globe, 10/27/2015)

APN founder Mark Rosenblum gives sober speech in Toronto (Times of Israel blog, 10/29/2015)

Peace Now's Oppenheimer commenting on impact of Rabin's assassination on Israel's peace camp (New York Jewish Week, 10/28/2015)

Thousands take part in Peace Now rally (JTA, 10/26/2015)

Thousands call for peace talks at Peace Now's Tel Aviv rally (Haaretz, 10/24/2015)

Thousands turn out to march in Peace Now's protest rally (Times of Israel, 10/24/2015)

Thousands of Israelis take part in Peace Now march (Xinhua, 10/25/2015)

Thousands of Israelis participate in Peace Now march (AFP, 10/24/2015)

APN's weekly congressional report provides details on House move condemning Palestinian incitement (JTA, 10/23/2015)