IDF chief launches inquiry after iconic ‘Song for Peace’ banned in army performance

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the source of a directive that prohibited military bands from performing Shir LaShalom (Song for Peace) – the iconic Israeli song sung by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at the Tel Aviv peace rally moments before his assassination in 1995.

According to a military source, Zamir was “very angry” and instructed that such an order must not be given again.

Yesterday, KAN News first reported that the IDF had banned soldiers in a military band from performing "Shir LaShalom" at an event marking 30 years since the assassination of Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin – a traditional ceremony held for the past 13 years at Kibbutz Gan Shmuel.

According to the original program, the soldiers were supposed to end the performance with the song, but a few days before the event, the organizers received notice from an IDF official that there was an “order from above” forbidding soldiers from performing the song.

Following an inquiry by KAN News correspondent Carmela Menashe, the decision was reversed.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit responded to the report, “The correspondent’s claims are not known to us. There is no directive prohibiting the performance of ‘Shir LaShalom’ in the IDF.”