Editing Yitzhak Rabin (section)

==First term as Prime Minister (1974–1977)==
[[File:Rabin and Peres visit Israeli MissleBoat SQN 1975.jpg|thumb|right| Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres visiting the Missile Boat Flotilla in 1975]]
[[File:Carter - Rabin 07-03-1977.png|thumb|Rabin as Prime Minister with US President [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1977]]
Following Golda Meir's resignation in April 1974, Rabin [[1974 Israeli Labor Party leadership election|was elected party leader]], after he defeated [[Shimon Peres]]. The rivalry between these two Labour leaders remained fierce and they competed several times in the next two decades for the leadership role, and even for who deserved credit for government achievements.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-07-29-mn-21196-story.html|title=Rivalry Between Rabin, Peres Rekindled Over Who Deserves Credit for Jordan Pact |last=Parks|first=Michael|date=29 July 1994|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=21 July 2014}}</ref> Rabin succeeded [[Golda Meir]] as [[Prime Minister of Israel]] on 3 June 1974. This was a coalition government, including [[Ratz (political party)|Ratz]], the [[Independent Liberals (Israel)|Independent Liberals]], Progress and Development and the Arab List for Bedouins and Villagers. This arrangement, with a bare [[Majority government|parliamentary majority]], held for a few months and was one of the few periods in Israel's history where the religious parties were not part of the coalition. The [[National Religious Party]] joined the coalition on 30 October 1974 and Ratz left on 6 November.

In foreign policy, the major development at the beginning of Rabin's term was the [[Sinai Interim Agreement]] between Israel and Egypt, signed on 1 September 1975. Both countries declared that the conflict between them and in the Middle East shall not be resolved by military force but by peaceful means.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/process/docs/egypt_interim_eng.htm |title=Interim Agreement between Israel and Egypt |publisher=Knesset.gov.il |access-date=31 August 2011}}</ref> This agreement followed [[Henry Kissinger]]'s shuttle diplomacy and a threatened [[Gerald Ford#Foreign policy|"reassessment"]] of the United States' regional policy and its relations with Israel. Rabin notes it was "an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American–Israeli relations."<ref>Yitzak Rabin, ''The Rabin Memoirs'', {{ISBN|978-0-520-20766-0}}, p. 261</ref> But the agreement was an important step towards the [[Camp David Accords]] of 1978 and the [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty|peace treaty with Egypt]] signed in 1979.

[[Entebbe raid|Operation Entebbe]] was perhaps the most dramatic event during Rabin's first term of office. On his orders, the IDF performed a long-range undercover raid to rescue passengers of an [[Aircraft hijacking|airliner hijacked]] by militants belonging to the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]]'s [[Wadie Haddad]] faction and the German [[Revolutionary Cells (RZ)|Revolutionary Cells]] (RZ), who had been brought to [[Idi Amin]]'s [[Uganda]].<ref name="name of reference goes here">{{cite book|title=The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership|last=Avner|first=Yehuda|author-link=Yehuda Avner|year=2010|publisher=The Toby Press|isbn=978-1-59264-278-6 |pages=303–18}}</ref> The operation was generally considered a tremendous success, and its spectacular character has made it the subject of much continued comment and study.

Towards the end of 1976 his coalition government with the religious parties suffered a crisis: A [[motion of no confidence]] had been brought by [[Agudat Yisrael]] over a breach of the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]] on an Israeli Air Force base when four [[McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle|F-15]] jets were delivered from the US and the National Religious Party had abstained. Rabin dissolved his government and decided on new elections, [[1977 Israeli legislative election|which were to be held in May 1977]].

Rabin was narrowly reelected as party leader over Shimon Peres [[February 1977 Israeli Labor Party leadership election|in February 1977]].<ref name="Kenig">{{cite journal |last1=Kenig |first1=Ofer |title=Democratizing Party Leadership Selection in Israel: A Balance Sheet |journal=Israel Studies Forum |date=2009 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=62–81 |jstor=41805011 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41805011 |access-date=25 January 2022 |issn=1557-2455}}</ref>

Following the March 1977 meeting between Rabin and U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]], Rabin publicly announced that the U.S. supported the Israeli idea of defensible borders; Carter then issued a clarification. A "fallout" in U.S./Israeli relations ensued. It is thought that the fallout contributed to the Israeli Labor Party's defeat in the May 1977 elections.<ref>[[William B. Quandt]] (2005) ''Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab–Israeli Conflict Since 1967'' University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0-520-24631-7}}, p. 182</ref> On 15 March 1977, ''Haaretz'' journalist Dan Margalit revealed that a [[Dollar Account affair|joint dollar account]] in the names of Yitzhak and Leah Rabin, opened in a Washington, D.C., bank during Rabin's term of office as Israel ambassador (1968–73), was still open, in breach of Israeli law.<ref>{{cite book|last=Avner|first=Yehuda|title=The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership|year=2010|publisher=The Toby Press|isbn=978-1-59264-278-6}}</ref> According to Israeli currency regulations at the time, it was illegal for citizens to maintain foreign bank accounts without prior authorization. Rabin resigned on 7 April 1977, following the revelation by ''[[Maariv (newspaper)|Maariv]]'' journalist S. Isaac Mekel that the Rabins held two accounts in Washington, not one, containing $10,000, and that a Finance Ministry administrative penalty committee fined them [[Israeli pound|IL]]150,000.<ref>{{cite news |date=8 April 1977 |title=Rabin Resigns Following Probe into Illegal Bank Accounts Held by Him and His Wife in Washington |url=http://pdfs.jta.org/1977/1977-04-08_068.pdf?_ga=2.91740186.1850736568.1681577125-689563089.1681577125 |access-date=9 June 2013 |publisher=JTA |quote=Jerusalem, April 7 (JTA) – Premier Yitzhak Rabin announced tonight that he was resigning...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Torgerson |first=Dial |date=8 April 1977 |title=Israel's Rabin Quits in Financial Scandal – Prime Minister Resigning to Share Trial With Wife Over Illegal Bank Account |work=Los Angeles Times |page=I-1}}</ref> Rabin withdrew from the party leadership and candidacy for prime minister.