Editing Yitzhak Rabin (section)

===IDF service===
[[File:YitzhakRabin1948.png|150px|thumb|left|Yitzhak Rabin, commander of the [[Harel Brigade]], {{circa|1948}}]]
During the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], Rabin directed Israeli operations in Jerusalem and fought the Egyptian army in the [[Negev]]. During the beginning of the war he was the commander of the [[Harel Brigade]], which fought on the road to Jerusalem from the [[Israeli coastal plain|coastal plain]], including the Israeli "[[Burma Road (Israel)|Burma Road]]", as well as many battles in Jerusalem, such as securing the southern side of the city by recapturing [[kibbutz]] [[Ramat Rachel]].

[[File:Altalena off Tel-Aviv beach.jpg|thumb|''[[Altalena]]'' on fire after being shelled near Tel Aviv]]
During the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War#First truce: 11 June – 8 July 1948|first truce]] Rabin commanded IDF forces on the beach of Tel Aviv confronting the [[Irgun]] during the tragic [[Altalena Affair]]. The [[Altalena]] ship carried about 1,000 American [[MAHAL]] volunteers for the War of Independence and large amount of weapons and ammunition for the war. It was organized by [[Hillel Kook]] of the [[Irgun]].  The day after much of the contents was offloaded at [[Kfar Vitkin]] the ship was attacked at Ben Gurion's orders off the Tel Aviv shore, set on fire, later  towed out to sea and sunk. Large number of volunteers were killed on board and after jumping in the sea. Rabin called the gun on shore "The Holy Gun". "Despite the tension and bloodshed, Begin went on the radio calling on members of the Irgun not to fight the IDF: ''Do not raise a hand against a brother, not even today. It is forbidden for a Hebrew weapon to be used against Hebrew fighters.''"<ref>https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/this-week-in-jewish-history--altalena-affair-leaves-nearly-two-dozen-jewish-soldiers-dead</ref> This probably prevented the likelihood of civil war. Hillel Kook was arrested.

In the following period he was the deputy commander of [[Operation Danny]], the largest scale operation to that point, which involved four IDF brigades. The cities of [[Ramle]] and [[Lod|Lydda]] were captured, as well as the major airport in Lydda, as part of the operation. Following the capture of the two towns [[1948 Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle|there was an expulsion of their Arab population]]. Rabin signed the expulsion order, which included the following:

<blockquote>... 1. The inhabitants of Lydda must be expelled quickly without attention to age. ... 2. Implement immediately.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Benny|author-link=Benny Morris|title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem 1947–1949|url=https://archive.org/details/birthofpalestini00morr|url-access=registration|series=Cambridge Middle East Library|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK|year=1987|page=[https://archive.org/details/birthofpalestini00morr/page/207 207]|isbn=978-0-521-33028-2}}</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Members of Israeli Delegation to Armistice talks in Rhodes, January 1949.jpg|thumb|The Israeli delegation to the [[1949 Armistice Agreements]] talks. Left to right: Commanders [[Yehoshafat Harkabi]], Aryeh Simon, [[Yigael Yadin]], and Yitzhak Rabin (1949)]]
[[File:Richard Nixon and Yitzhak Rabin.jpg|thumb|Rabin with [[Richard Nixon]] in Tel Aviv, 22 June 1967]]
Later, Rabin was chief of operations for the Southern Front and participated in the major battles ending the fighting there, including [[Operation Yoav]] and [[Operation Horev]].

In the beginning of 1949 he was a member of the Israeli delegation to the armistice talks with Egypt that were held on the island of [[Rhodes]]. The result of the negotiations were the [[1949 Armistice Agreements]], which ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Following the [[demobilization]] at the end of the war he was the most senior (former) member of the [[Palmach]] that remained in the IDF.

Like many Palmach leaders, Rabin was politically aligned with the left wing pro-[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Ahdut HaAvoda]] party and later [[Mapam]]. These officers were distrusted by Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] and several resigned from the army in 1953 after [[The Generals' Revolt|a series of confrontations]]. Those members of Mapam who remained, such as Rabin, [[Haim Bar-Lev]] and [[David Elazar]], had to endure several years in staff or training posts before resuming their careers.<ref>Peri, Yoram. ''Between battles and ballots. Israeli military in politics.'' Cambridge University Press. 1983. {{ISBN|978-0-521-24414-5}}. p. 62.</ref>

Rabin headed Israel's [[Northern Command (Israel)|Northern Command]] from 1956 to 1959.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Yitzhak Rabin Center|title=Biography of Yitzhak Rabin|url=http://www.rabincenter.org.il/Items/00970/BIOGRAPHY_OF_YITZHAK_RABIN.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010200133/http://rabincenter.org.il/Items/00970/BIOGRAPHY_OF_YITZHAK_RABIN.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2013 |url-status=live|page=3|date=n.d.|author1-link=Yitzhak Rabin Center}}</ref> In 1964 he was appointed [[Ramatkal|chief of staff]] of the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF) by [[Levi Eshkol]], who had replaced [[David Ben-Gurion]] as [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] and [[Minister of Defence (Israel)|Minister of Defence]]. Since Eshkol did not have much military experience and trusted Rabin's judgement, he had a very free hand. According to the memoirs of Eshkol's [[Aide-de-camp|military secretary]], Eshkol followed Rabin "with closed eyes".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Maoz|first1=Zeev|title=Defending the Holy Land|date=2006|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-11540-2|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bWEV__6BYPgC&pg=PA101 100–01]|language=en}}</ref>

Under his command, the IDF achieved victory over [[Egypt]], Syria and [[Jordan]] in the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967. After the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]] of [[Jerusalem]] was captured by the IDF, Rabin was among the first to visit the Old City, and delivered a famous speech on [[Mount Scopus]], at the [[Hebrew University]]. In the days leading up to the war, it was reported that Rabin suffered a [[mental breakdown|nervous breakdown]] and was unable to function.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051701976_pf.html|title=Prelude to the Six Days|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=18 May 2007|first=Charles|last=Krauthammer}}</ref> After this short hiatus, he resumed full command over the IDF.