The horrific murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin opened a deep rift in our national existence. It is joined to the list of fateful events in the history of our people that were the result of destructive polarization, unrestrained fanaticism. We have experienced destruction and exile in our ancient history, also because of internecine fighting. And when Israeli democracy was founded, our modern country, we promised ourselves that the lessons of our past had been internalized, that the kingdom of Israel would not be destroyed for a third time.