Former President Bill Clinton revealed on Monday one of his most personal and significant moments he shared in his life with his wife, Hillary Clinton, as he recalled the moment former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated after leaving a pro-peace rally in Tel Aviv on November 4, 1995.

“When I was told that [Rabin] was shot, I ran upstairs to see my wife. We literally just sat there and held each other for, like, 20 minutes,” Clinton recounted. “I was distraught, and said, ‘I just can’t sit still anymore.'”

The former president spoke to Channel 2’s Ilana Dayan in June of 2013, during his last trip to Israel, but the interview was first aired Monday night – on the day Israel officially marked the 20th anniversary to the assassination of Rabin. Clinton is expected to address the annual Rabin memorial rally at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv Saturday night.

Clinton maintained that had Rabin not been assassinated there would have been peace in the Middle East “because the Palestinians trusted him.” Adding, “It was fascinating to me the psychological hold he held on the Palestinians, particular on Arafat.”

Asked what it is that triggers his memory in occasionally thinking of Rabin, Clinton mentioned the fights the Israeli premier and Hillary had about smoking in the White House, forcing him to go out on the Truman balcony to smoke his cigarettes. “He would laugh and say, ‘I thought that this was supposed to be the capital of democracy, and here you exile me.’ And I would go out on the balcony with him.

Watch the full interview as aired on Channel 2′ “Uvda” program Monday night: