Born in Kharkiv, Rabinovich spent seven years in Soviet prisons for embezzlement and involvement with the black market, and made aliyah to Israel in the early 1990s, becoming an Israeli citizen in 1999.

The next month, Ukraine's government placed Rabinovich on a list of 111 people labelled as traitors in the war with Russia, and in July 2022, his citizenship was revoked by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, along with Ihor Kolomoyskyi and eight other Ukrainian oligarchs.

On 3 November 2022 the parliament officially terminated the powers of the People's Deputy Rabinovich because of his deprivement of Ukrainian citizenship.

In 2012, councilwoman Rachel Azaria petitioned the Supreme Court of Israel to rescind the naming of the square, saying that Rabinovich was mistakenly thought to be deceased.

The reputation of Nordex president and Russian mafia leader Grigory Luchansky affected the image of Rabinovich.

Later media reports said the SBU decision was related to Rabinovich leaking information about the sale of ammunition by Ukraine to Yugoslavia despite the international embargo then in effect.

[4][20] In March 2013, Rabinovich survived an apparent attempt on his life in Kyiv after an explosive device was hurled into his car near the Klovska metro station.

Rabinovich was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) the same year, placing fourth on the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc's electoral list.

[28] In 2021, Rabinovich launched an unsuccessful attempt to impeach Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the government's shuttering of three television stations deemed to be pro-Russian.

[30] On 17 March 2022 his own party, Opposition Platform — For Life, terminated his term of office as a People's Deputy[2] due to his support for Russia during the Russian invasion.

On 6 September 2022 Rabinovich asked the Supreme Court of Ukraine to overturn this decision as an alleged violation of the established parliamentary procedure.

[2] In April 2022, Chesno and the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) placed Rabinovich on a published list of people accused of treason, calling him a "collaborator, pro-Russian politician".

[31][29] In July 2022, reports emerged that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had signed a decree to revoke Rabinovich's Ukrainian citizenship.

[35] Rabinovich founded Media International Group (MIG), which included the Stolichnye Novosti publishing company, the MIGnovosti and MIGnews newspapers in Ukraine and Israel, respectively, and the Delovaya Nedelya business weekly, in 2000.