In previous years the event was organized by a state-sponsored body, the Rabin Center; this year, it was organized by a private group.<
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"Israel Defense Forces soldiers were forbidden by the army to attend last Saturday's rally in memory of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. This is the first time soldiers have been barred from attending the annual event, held in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square.
The decision to prohibit soldiers from attending the memorial rally stems from the fact that in previous years the event was organized by a state-sponsored body, the Rabin Center. This year, it was organized by a private group.
The order not to attend the rally was issued by the Education Corps with the approval of the chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister. However, it was not distributed to all IDF units, so many soldiers did attend the rally, having no idea they were forbidden to do so. Most of those who did receive the order were youth movement members serving in the Education Corps itself.
Since the Rabin Center was established by legislation and is funded by the government, the rallies it organized over the previous 15 years were defined as state events. Therefore, the IDF did not object to soldiers' participation, even though the rallies were dominated by left-wing parties and movements that gave them a clear political character.
This year, however, the Rabin family decided that the center would not organize the rally. Therefore, a private group called the Fourth of November was established to do so. Since it no was no longer under the auspices of a state agency, the IDF defined this year's rally as a political event, meaning soldiers were barred from participating."
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/idf-bars-soldiers-from-rabin-political-memorial-1.395987