In first person… Bumping into Rabin in the King David lobby

I was fortunate to have spent 10 months in Israel in 1993. I was involved in many things there, life on an army base with the Volunteers for Israel program, two months on a kibbutz in the Judean hills, and the highlight was living in the Old City in Jerusalem for seven months.

I believe it was the end of November 1993 I was walking back to the Old City with a friend named Asher and we stopped in the King David Hotel just to walk around. I recall it was fairly quiet there around 7 p.m. on a weeknight. We were joking around in the hallway by the gift shops and as we turned a corner an older gentleman bumped into me. Two younger gentleman, his bodyguards I realized later, gently brushed me aside and they kept walking.

I turned to my friend Asher and said, "Was that Shimon Peres?" He said, "Don't you know that was Yitzhak Rabin?" I found out the next day that Rabin was at the hotel for a reception for the king of Spain.

Only in Israel. I had several incredible things happen that year but I really got a kick out of bumping into Rabin.