Synopses & Reviews
The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir twenty years ago this November remains the single most consequential event in the country's recent history. relates the parallel stories of Rabin and Amir over the two years leading up to the assassination, as one of them plotted political deals he hoped would lead to peace and the other plotted murder. This deeply reported narrative is based on a trove of documents from the era and interviews with all of the key players, including members of the assassin's family. Only through the prism of the murder is it possible to understand Israel today, from the paralysis in peacemaking to the fraught relationship between Netanyahu and Obama. Dan Ephron covered both the rally where Rabin was assassinated and the subsequent murder trial.
Review
"Stunning...a chilling reminder that sometimes an assassin's bullet really can alter the course of history. By unearthing previously confidential police and court records, Ephron gives us the definitive account of a fatal turning point for Israel. is thorough, even-handed, and absolutely authoritative." Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, and author of The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames
Review
"The killing of Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish fanatic helped derail the promising but fragile Middle East peace process and plunged Israelis and Palestinians into a nightmarish era of political violence and recrimination that haunts them still. In Ephron digs up important details that give new understanding to those terrible events and their enduring impact. His authoritative account is both a sharply etched political thriller and a meditation on all that has gone wrong in the Promised Land." Glenn Frankel, former Jerusalem bureau chief for the Washington Post and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting
Review
"With remarkable reporting, Dan Ephron has written an epic story, honestly and skillfully. is not just about Israel's past. It's also an important read for anyone who wishes to truly understand the country's disturbing present and unsettling future." Etgar Keret, author of The Seven Good Years: A Memoir
Review
"Clearly written, well-paced...the best account to date of Rabin's assassination and its aftermath." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
A riveting story about the murder that changed a nation: the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Synopsis
The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin remains the single most consequential event in Israel s recent history, and one that fundamentally altered the trajectory for both Israel and the Palestinians. Killing a King relates the parallel stories of Rabin and his stalker, Yigal Amir, over the two years leading up to the assassination, as one of them planned political deals he hoped would lead to peace, and the other plotted murder.
Dan Ephron, who reported from the Middle East for much of the past two decades, covered both the rally where Rabin was killed and the subsequent murder trial. He describes how Rabin, a former general who led the army in the Six-Day War of 1967, embraced his nemesis, Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, and set about trying to resolve the twentieth century s most vexing conflict. He recounts in agonizing detail how extremists on both sides undermined the peace process with ghastly violence. And he reconstructs the relentless scheming of Amir, a twenty-five-year-old law student and Jewish extremist who believed that Rabin s peace effort amounted to a betrayal of Israel and the Jewish people. As Amir stalked Rabin over many months, the agency charged with safeguarding the Israeli leader missed key clues, overlooked intelligence reports, and then failed to protect him at the critical moment, exactly twenty years ago. It was the biggest security blunder in the agency s history.
Through the prism of the assassination, much about Israel today comes into focus, from the paralysis in peacemaking to the fraught relationship between current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama. Based on Israeli police reports, interviews, confessions, and the cooperation of both Rabin s and Amir s families, Killing a King is a tightly coiled narrative that reaches an inevitable, shattering conclusion. One can t help but wonder what Israel would look like today had Rabin lived.
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About the Author
An award-winning writer, Dan Ephron has served as the Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek and the Daily Beast and now lives in New York City.