What were Yitzhak Rabin's Last Words?

March 23, 2009 1:31 PM

What were Yitzhak Rabin's last words? I am trying to fact check what my guide on a Birthright Israel tour told us, which is that before he died, Rabin said "I can't believe it's a Jew," referring to his assassin who was a right-wing Orthodox Jew. I feel like I've heard this quote elsewhere, but when I try googling to find Rabin's last words I cant find this quote. Can anyone verify this?
posted by minicloud to law & government (6 comments total)

Google news archive search on: "Yithak Rabin" "last words"

"'I hurt, but not terribly' were Rabin's last words, Damati said" (Washington Post)
posted by zippy at 1:40 PM on March 23

More details from independent.co.uk:

The confusion bordering on farce that surrounded the last minutes of Yitzhak Rabin was described publicly for the first time yesterday by his driver.

In an interview with Israel's Channel Two television, Menachem Damati described how the gunman, Yigal Amir, shouted "It's nothing, it's nothing. They are not real bullets, they're fake," as he raised his arm to shoot the Prime Minister. According to Mr Damati, no one around Rabin seemed to do anything other than believe what Amir said. A lone security man pushed Rabin into the back of the car, and then Mr Damati drove off with Rabin and the guard. It was only after he had driven for about 20 or 30 metres that he heard Rabin groan.

He asked him if he had been hit, and Rabin answered yes. It was then that Mr Damati changed course for Ichilov hospital. On the way to the hospital Mr Damati asked Rabin if he was in pain, and Rabin said that his back hurt. Then he said, "Don't worry, it's not so bad, not so bad." These were Rabin's last words. "As he finished saying 'not so bad' his head fell," said Mr Damati. "The bodyguard was screaming at me, 'drive, drive!' " Then the guard said that he too had been hit.
posted by zippy at 1:47 PM on March 23

I am trying to fact check what my guide on a Birthright Israel tour told us, which is that before he died, Rabin said "I can't believe it's a Jew," referring to his assassin who was a right-wing Orthodox Jew.

Oy!

This GoogleBooks quote seems to agree with zippy.

(Quite a bit of the "history" I got on my birthright trip was of dubious veracity, too, if it makes you feel any better.)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:48 PM on March 23

That's strange...I wonder if what our guide told us was just a legend or a rumor or if the quotation is actually someone else's .
posted by minicloud at 1:51 PM on March 23

[few comments removed - metatalk is a decent option for bitching, not here]
posted by jessamyn at 2:56 PM on March 23

If I remember correctly the idea/quote "I can't believe it's a Jew" came from the Israeli media and the public, after the assassination. I'm almost certain that was one of the most commonly uttered phrases, in a watercooler chat kind of way, in the days following.
posted by ttyn at 4:04 PM on March 23