Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has described Yitzhak Rabin as “one of Israel’s great fighters and liberators” in a memorial ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of his assassination.

The service, which took place on Monday at Rabin’s grave site in the Mount Herzl cemetery, was attended by the late prime minister’s family and Israeli dignitaries, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and Supreme Court President Miriam Naor.

President Rivlin recalled Rabin’s commitment to “safeguard[ing] Jerusalem” and said: “We are in the throes of a struggle in Jerusalem for Jerusalem, and Rabin [was] one of its great fighters and liberators.

“Rabin was the one who cleared our path to Jerusalem [in 1948], he’s the one who united Jerusalem for us [in 1967], and he’s the one who commanded us, the supporters and opponents of the Oslo [Peace Accords]… Today it’s clear to us all that we can’t continue to ignore East Jerusalem. We can’t continue to suppress its existence.”

Recalling the assassination of the late prime minister 20 years ago, President Rivlin said: “The three shots that the murderer fired, into Yitzhak’s back, did not strike just him, but tore a hole in the heart of, and left a black stain upon, Israel’s democracy.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the assassination of his predecessor was “a wound that won’t heal; it leaves us all bruised and in pain.”

“He sought to bring an end to the conflict and worked for the sake of the people,” Mr Netanyahu said, “but he also very quickly was forced to contend with brutal waves of terrorism.

“Terrorism stems from the refusal to recognize the national state of the Jewish people in any borders. At the crux of it, that was and still is the root of the conflict.”

Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, the late prime minister’s daughter, spoke out against the “this fire which consumes every good part and is fed by unbridled incitement, the same incitement that created the atmosphere that permitted the assassination of a prime minister.”