Secrets of The Day of the Jackal: As a TV remake with Eddie Redmayne hits our screens, how a thriller masterclass written in just 35 days became an assassin's handbook By Brian Viner Published: 02:05, 4 November 2024 | Updated: 02:05, 4 November 2024 e-mail View comments Exactly 29 years ago today – on November 4, 1995 – Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a far-Right nationalist vehemently opposed to Rabin's efforts to make peace with the Palestinians. The killer, Yigal Amir, was reportedly carrying a Hebrew edition of The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth 's 1971 novel in which a professional hitman is hired to eliminate French president Charles de Gaulle. There are plenty who feel the Middle East would be a happier place now if the pragmatic Rabin had lived to pursue the peace process, yet Forsyth's book can hardly be blamed for giving Amir handy tips on how to carry out a seismic political assassination.
After all, he shot Rabin twice at close range. In the book, the assassin aims his high-velocity rifle at de Gaulle from the window of a top-floor apartment. And there is one other even more notable difference: the Jackal missed.
Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal in the TV remake of Secrets of The Day of the Jackal The 1973 film version starring Edward Fox as the assassin Nonetheless, the wide-ranging influence of Forsyth's debut novel has rippled down the decades. The notorious Venezuelan terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez was nicknamed 'Carlos the Jac.