When I was a high school student my father took a one-year contract position to help establish educational and children’s programming for the newly established national Israeli television broadcasting service. As a result, my family moved to Israel for a year and lived in a small village north of Tel Aviv. The year was 1966-67 so by chance we ended up being in Israel for the Six Day War (yes I am that old) my one and only chance as a Canadian to experience international conflict. To be honest it was somewhat uneventful for my family. The Israeli’s took the war to the enemy destroying their air forces on the ground and swiftly defeating the ground forces in a surprise attack to take the good ground and end the threats. Rabin was the brains behind the victory. His preparation of the Israel Defence Force and the Air Force over the years leading up to the war meant Israel was more than prepared for a war Rabin himself was convinced was coming. He then led his forces to its overwhelming military victory. It was a stunning victory but Pyrrhic to say the least. The following 50 years have been fraught including a second war and ongoing unrest both within the conquered territories and in the country itself.

While this paints Rabin as a warrior the film itself paints a far more complex picture of a leader who was convinced of the need to finish the war with an honourable peace even if it meant compromise with Israel’s enemies. He had a long and eventful political career that ended in 1995 with his assassination. He served as ambassador to the USA, Prime Minister in the 70’s during which he authorized the Entebbe raid, and again prime minister in 1992 until his assassination. During his second term he worked for peace agreements with Egypt and the PLO and lobbied against the resettlement plans of the Israeli government in the period between his prime ministerial terms. Despite his key role in defence of his country he was killed for daring to make peace. The film uses his diaries, speeches and newsreel film to tell the story of one of the 20^th Centuries most remarkable leaders and arguably the greatest Israeli leader in the short history of that country. This is not only a great story but a great film that engages the viewer from beginning to end. I highly recommend it.

When I was a high school student my father took a one-year contract position to help establish educational and children’s programming for the newly established national Israeli television broadcasting service. As a result, my family moved to Israel for a year and lived in a small village north of Tel Aviv. The year was 1966-67 so by chance we ended up being in Israel for the Six Day War (yes I am that old) my one and only chance as a Canadian to experience international conflict. To be honest it was somewhat uneventful for my family. The Israeli’s took the war to the enemy destroying their air forces on the ground and swiftly defeating the ground forces in a surprise attack to take the good ground and end the threats. Rabin was the brains behind the victory. His preparation of the Israel Defence Force and the Air Force over the years leading up to the war meant Israel was more than prepared for a war Rabin himself was convinced was coming. He then led his forces to its overwhelming military victory. It was a stunning victory but Pyrrhic to say the least. The following 50 years have been fraught including a second war and ongoing unrest both within the conquered territories and in the country itself.

While this paints Rabin as a warrior the film itself paints a far more complex picture of a leader who was convinced of the need to finish the war with an honourable peace even if it meant compromise with Israel’s enemies. He had a long and eventful political career that ended in 1995 with his assassination. He served as ambassador to the USA, Prime Minister in the 70’s during which he authorized the Entebbe raid, and again prime minister in 1992 until his assassination. During his second term he worked for peace agreements with Egypt and the PLO and lobbied against the resettlement plans of the Israeli government in the period between his prime ministerial terms. Despite his key role in defence of his country he was killed for daring to make peace. The film uses his diaries, speeches and newsreel film to tell the story of one of the 20^th Centuries most remarkable leaders and arguably the greatest Israeli leader in the short history of that country. This is not only a great story but a great film that engages the viewer from beginning to end. I highly recommend it.