Yitzhak Rabin Assassination

Yitzhak Rabin Assassination On November 4, 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot and killed by Jewish radical Yigal Amir at the end of a peace rally in Kings of Israel Square (now called Rabin Square) in Tel Aviv. The Victim: Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin was the prime minister of Israel from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1992 until his death in 1995. For 26 years, Rabin had been a member of the Palmach (part of the Jewish underground army before Israel became a state) and the IDF (the Israeli army) and had risen up the ranks to become the IDFs Chief of Staff. After retiring from the IDF in 1968, Rabin was appointed the Israeli Ambassador to the United States. Once back in Israel in 1973, Rabin became active in the Labor Party and became the fifth prime minister of Israel in 1974. During his second term as Israels prime minister, Rabin worked on the Oslo Accords. Debated in Oslo, Norway but officially signed in Washington D.C. on September 13, 1993, the Oslo Accords were the first time that Israeli and Palestinian leaders were able to sit down together and work toward a real peace. These negotiations were to be the first step in creating a separate Palestinian state. Although the Oslo Accords won Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, the stipulations of the Oslo Accords were extremely unpopular with many Israelis. One such Israeli was Yigal Amir. The Assassination of Rabin Twenty-five year old Yigal Amir had wanted to kill Yitzhak Rabin for months. Amir, who had grown up as an Orthodox Jew in Israel and was a law student at Bar Ilan University, was completely against the Oslo Accords and believed Rabin was trying to give Israel back to the Arabs. Thus, Amir viewed Rabin as a traitor, an enemy. Determined to kill Rabin and hopefully end the Middle East peace talks, Amir took his small, black, 9 mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol and tried to get close to Rabin. After several failed attempts, Amir got lucky on Saturday, November 4, 1995. At the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, a peace rally in support of Rabins peace negotiations was being held. Rabin was going to be there, along with approximately 100,000 supporters. Amir, who was posing as a VIP driver, sat idly by a flower planter near Rabins car as he waited for Rabin. Security agents never double checked Amirs identity nor questioned Amirs story. At the end of the rally, Rabin descended down a set of stairs, heading from city hall to his waiting car. As Rabin passed Amir, who was now standing, Amir fired his gun at Rabins back. Three shots rang out at very close range. Two of the shots hit Rabin; the other hit security guard Yoram Rubin. Rabin was rushed to the nearby Ichilov Hospital but his wounds proved too serious. Rabin was soon declared dead. The Funeral The assassination of 73-year-old Yitzhak Rabin shocked the Israeli people and the world. According to Jewish tradition, the funeral should have been held the following day; however, in order to accommodate the large number of world leaders that wanted to come give their respects, Rabins funeral was pushed back one day. Throughout the day and night of Sunday, November 5, 1995, an estimated 1 million people passed by Rabins coffin as it laid in state just outside the Knesset, Israels parliament building.* On Monday, November 6, 1995, Rabins coffin was placed in a military vehicle that had been draped in black and then slowly driven the two miles from the Knesset to the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem. Once Rabin was at the cemetery, sirens across Israel blared, stopping everyone for a two-minute moment of silence in Rabins honor. Life in Prison Immediately after the shooting, Yigar Amir was apprehended. Amir confessed to assassinating Rabin and never showed any remorse. In March 1996, Amir was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, plus extra years for shooting the security guard. * World Pauses for Rabin Funeral, CNN, November 6, 1995, Web, November 4, 2015. http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/rabin/funeral/am/index.html

Tlaltecuhtli - The Monstrous Aztec Goddess of the Earth

Tlaltecuhtli - The Monstrous Aztec Goddess of the Earth Tlaltecuhtli (pronounced Tlal-teh-koo-tlee and sometimes spelled Tlaltecutli) is the name of the monstrous earth god among the Aztec. Tlaltecuhtli has both feminine and masculine attributes, although she is most often represented as a female deity. Her name means The one who gives and devours life. She represents the earth and the sky, and was one of the gods in the Aztec pantheon most hungry for human sacrifice. The Tlaltecuhtli Myth According to Aztec mythology, at the origin of time (the First Sun), the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca began to create the world. But the monster Tlaltecuhtli destroyed everything they were creating. The gods turned themselves into giant serpents and wrapped their bodies around the goddess until they tore Tlaltecuhtlis body into two pieces. One piece of Tlaltecuhtlis body became the earth, mountains, and rivers, her hair the trees and flowers, her eyes the caves and wells. The other piece became the vault of the sky, although, in this early time, no sun or stars were embedded in it yet. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca gave Tlatecuhtli the gift of providing humans with whatever they need from her body, but it was a gift that didnt make her happy. Sacrifice Thus in Mexica mythology, Tlaltecuhtli represents the surface of the earth; however, she was said to be angry, and she was the first of the gods to demand the hearts and blood of humans for her unwilling sacrifice. Some versions of the myth say Tlaltecuhtli would not stop crying and bear fruit (plants and other growing things) unless she was moistened with the blood of men. Tlaltecuhtli was also believed to devour the sun every night just to give it back every morning. However, the fear that this cycle could be interrupted for some reason, such as during eclipses, produced instability among the Aztec population and was often the cause of even more ritual human sacrifices. Tlaltecuhtli Images Tlaltecuhtli is depicted in codices and stone monuments as a horrific monster, often in a squatting position and in the act of giving birth. She has several mouths over her body filled with sharp teeth, which were often spurting blood. Her elbows and knees are human skulls and in many images she is portrayed with a human being hanging between her legs. In some images she is portrayed as a caiman or alligator. Her open mouth symbolizes the passage to the underworld inside of the earth, but in many images her lower jaw is missing, torn away by Tezcatlipoca to prevent her from sinking beneath the waters. She often wears a skirt of crossed bones and skulls with a great star sign border, symbol of her primordial sacrifice; she is often depicted with large teeth, goggle-eyes, and a flint-knife tongue. It is interesting to note that in the Aztec culture, many sculptures, particularly in the case of representations of Tlaltecuhtli, were not meant to be seen by humans. These sculptures were carved and then set in a hidden place or carved on the underside of stone boxes and chacmool sculptures. These objects were made for the gods and not for humans, and, in Tlaltecuhtlis case, the images faced the earth they represent. Tlaltecuhtli Monolith In 2006, a huge monolith representing the Earth Goddess Tlaltecuhtli was discovered in an excavation at the Templo Mayor of Mexico City. This sculpture measures about 4 x 3.6 meters (13.1 x 11.8 feet) and weighs about 12 tons. It is the largest Aztec monolith ever discovered, larger than the famous Aztec Calendar Stone (Piedra del Sol) or the Coyolxauhqui. The sculpture, carved in a block of pink andesite, represents the goddess in the typical squatting position, and it is vividly painted in red ochre, white, black, and blue. After several years of excavation and restoration, the monolith can be seen on display at the the museum of the Templo Mayor. Sources This glossary entry is a part of the guide to Aztec religion and the dictionary of archaeology. Barajas M, Bosch P, Malvaà ©z C, Barragn C, and Lima E. 2010. Stabilization of the Tlaltecuhtli monolith pigments. Journal of Archaeological Science 37(11):2881-2886. Barajas M, Lima E, Lara VH, Negrete JV, Barragn C, Malvez C, and Bosch P. 2009. Effect of organic and inorganic consolidation agents on Tlaltecuhtli monolith. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(10):2244-2252. Bequedano E, and Orton CR. 1990. Similarities Between Sculptures Using Jaccards Coefficient in the Study of Aztec Tlaltecuhtli. Papers from the Institute of Archaeology 1:16-23. Berdan FF. 2014. Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory. New York: Cambridge University Press. Boone EH, and Collins R. 2013. The petroglyphic prayers on the sun stone of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina. Ancient Mesoamerica 24(02):225-241. Graulich M. 1988. Double Immolations in Ancient Mexican Sacrificial Ritual. History of Religions 27(4):393-404. Lucero-Gà ³mez P, Mathe C, Vieillescazes C, Bucio L, Belio I, and Vega R. 2014. Analysis of Mexican reference standards for Bursera spp. resins by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry and application to archaeological objects. Journal of Archaeological Science 41(0):679-690. Matos Moctezuma E. 1997. Tlaltecuhtli, seà ±or de la tierra. Estudios de Cultura Nhautl 1997:15-40. Taube KA. 1993. Aztec and Maya Myths. Fourth Edition. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. Van Tuerenhout DR. 2005. The Aztecs. New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO Inc. Santa Barbara, CA; Denver, CO and Oxford, England.