Memorial Day for Yitzhak Rabin


Project written by Jennifer Sternlicht.
In memory of Yitzchak Rabin and the ideals he stood for, this lesson is dedicated to the investigation of the consequences of political assassinations.
Each of the following political leaders were assassinated.
Assassins felt that by killing a leader they could stop political beliefs from growing and thereby could change the course of history.
Does a political assassination actually change the course of history? Does it serve the ends of its perpetrators, or strengthen the resolve of those who supported the victim's ideas to pursue his humanitarian quest?
Choose one of the following political figures to study. Begin your search with the suggested Internet sites.


Yitzchak Rabin:   http://www.multied.com/Rabin2.html

Anwar Sadat: http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/sadat.html

Indira Gandhi: http://www.cncw.com/india/indira.htm

Malcolm X: http://www.cmgww.com/historic/malcolm/

Mahatma Gandhi: http://www.mkgandhi.org/

John F. Kennedy: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jk35.html

Julius Caesar: http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/caesar1/a/juliuscaesarwb.htm

Martin Luther King,  Jr.: http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/king.html

Abraham Lincoln: http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln.html and
http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/index.html)

Focus your study on the following questions and try to answer as many of
them as possible:

  • Write a one sentence description of who the leader was.
  • What were his/her political beliefs?
  • What was controversial about his/her political beliefs?
  • In what direction was the country moving politically before the assassination?
  • What were the political beliefs of the assassin?
  • What was the motivation behind the assassination?
  • Did the country's political view change after the assassination?
  • What conclusions can you reach about assassination as a political tool?





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