Dan Ephron’s ‘Killing a King’

Guest: Dan Ephron

The historic photograph of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat after signing of the OSLO peace accord in September, 1995, instilled hope worldwide that the long feud between the Israelis and the Palestinians might end. But within Israel, the event deepened the divides between the left and the right and gave rise to extremism on both sides. Two years later Rabin was murdered by a religious 25-year old law student who was convinced that the prime minister was betraying his people and that Jewish law demanded his death. As Jerusalem Bureau Chief for Newsweek, DAN EPHRON covered both the rally where Rabin was assassinated and the subsequent murder trial. In his new book, Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel, Ephron chronicles what happened that day, the two years leading up to the assassination, and its aftermath. In the process he provides insight into contemporary Israel and explores what might have been had Rabin survived.