Yigal Amir
From Academic Kids
Yigal Amir (born 1970) shot and killed Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 4th, 1995 at a peace rally in Tel Aviv, Israel, and was sentenced to life in prison. Amir was a right wing idealist who had strenuously opposed Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords.
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Biography
Yigal Amir was born to a national-religious (Religious Zionist) Orthodox Jewish family in the Israeli town of Herzliya; his parents emigrated to Israel from Yemen. He attended Haredi elementary school and yeshiva for his formal education. He served in the elite Golani Brigade during service in the Israel Defense Force as part of a combined yeshiva-study and army-training program known as hesder. A law student at Bar-Ilan University, he was involved in organizing demonstrations against the Oslo Accords.
Background to the assassination
At this point in time, the factors that resulted in Amir's role in the assassination of Rabin are mired in some controversy, and not all the facts are clearly known. What is known is that Amir perceived the Oslo Accords as national treason and a threat to the existence of the state of Israel, which led to his decision to assassinate Rabin. A complicating factor from his days as a university student was his warm friendship with a known agent of the Israeli internal security forces Avishai Raviv who, it has been documented [1] (http://www.barrychamish.com/html/yitzhak_rabin_avishai_raviv.html), was sent as an agent provocateur to seek out anti-Rabin Jewish university students and manipulate their protests and actions in order to enhance the government's pro-Oslo policies. One of Raviv's closest supporters was Amir who was groomed into a group leader. This has also given rise to a number of conspiracy theories, see below. Another factor complicating the drama is that Yigal Amir served as his own lead defense attorney during his trial, and appeared to be "covering" for Raviv according to all accounts. Yigal Amir's brother, Hagai Amir, and his friend Dror Adani, were his accomplices in the assassination plan. Amir had apparently attempted to assassinate Rabin twice throughout 1995, but those plans fell through moments before implementation.
The assassination and aftermath
On November 4th, 1995, after a demonstration held in support of the peace process, held in Tel-Aviv's "Square of the Kings of Israel" (Kikar Malkhei Yisrael כיכר מלכי ישראל, now Kikar Rabin כיכר רבין), Amir awaited Rabin in the parking lot adjacent the square, where he assassinated him with two shots of a pistol, and injured a security guard with another shot.
The gun used by Amir was a Beretta 84F semi-automatic pistol in .380 ACP caliber, serial number D98231Y.
Amir was caught at the scene of the crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment, and 6 additional years in prison for injuring a security guard. In a later trial, he was sentenced to 5 years (and after an appeal on behalf of the State, 8 years) for conspiring to commit the assassination with his brother and Adani. All punishments were cumulative.
Amir was held in isolation in the Be'er Sheva Prison, and was moved to the Ayalon Prison in 2003. His appeals on both sentences were rejected. He has never expressed regret for his actions.
Most of the right wing condemned the assassination despite the vast differences in political views and the widespread disgust at Rabin's policies which the right felt both emboldened the terrorists and gave them a territorial stronghold within Israel.
Engagement and marriage to Larisa Trembovler
While in prison, Amir was engaged to Dr. Larisa Trembovler (in Russian: Лариса Трембовлер ) (and sometimes written as Trimbobler in English.) She is a Jewish immigrant to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Amir and Trembovler began exchanging letters and speaking on the phone, after she expressed ideological support for him. Dr. Trembovler was already married when she first met Amir, and subsequently divorced in order to marry him. She has four children from her previous marriage. Amir's marriage request includes the right to be (conjugally) united with his intended wife in a jail cell, even though he is in solitary confinement, with his every move monitored by cameras.
Dr. Trembovler has published a novel in Russian A Mirror for a Prince and has a Ph.D. in philosophy and also practices Orthodox Judaism. Amir had met her years ago when she was younger at a time when he was a teacher of Judaism sent by Israel to educate Russian Jews. Trembovler first started to visit Amir in jail for humanitarian reasons. She has abandoned her academic career because of her public personal ties with Amir.
In January 2004, the Israel Prisons Authority announced that it would prohibit Amir from marrying in jail, despite a law permitting all prisoners to wed and have children. During April 2004, the Tel Aviv District Court reviewed the decision regarding a request by Yigal Amir to get married in prison. The Israeli prison authorities rejected the Amir-Trembovler requests to marry and to have conjugal visits, although this right is normally given to prisoners held in Israel's jail system.
At the time, the Prisons Commissioner instructed his legal aides to prepare a case to defend the decision, which will likely be based on security considerations. But Amir's lawyers said it violates their client's basic rights and would not hold up in court. They noted that several Palestinians serving multiple life terms have been permitted to marry in prison. Legal analysts have said the Supreme Court would likely uphold any appeal by Amir's lawyer, unless specific legislation is enacted prohibiting him from marrying.
In August 2004 Amir and Trembovler married according to Jewish law that permits a prospective husband to grant a form of "power of attorney" to a chosen representative who can then transfer a wedding ring, or something of similar value, to the prospective wife with the full legal authority of the husband and so thereby conclude a valid Jewish marriage (Note, according to Jewish law this is a contractually valid marriage. The emmisary only transfers the ring and possibly also the ketuba (i.e. "marriage contract"), but only the husband himself can actually consummate the marriage, which is now what Amir seeks to accomplish with "conjugal visits" from his new bride as permitted by Jewish law.)
As the Israeli authorities do not recognize this marriage, they are still not permitted to take part in marital relations in jail.
Conspiracy theories
- Main article: Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories.
Many conspiracy theories emerged regarding the assassination of Rabin; for example, it is alleged that there were serious inconsistencies in the evidence, because some medical and witness testimonies suggest that Amir shot blanks, and that the real bullets were fired at a later time. All were dismissed by the Shamgar committee, which investigated the assassination. However, much uncertainty revolves around the part played by Avishai Raviv who was accused of acting as an agent provocateur for the Shabak security services. Barry Chamish, an Israeli journalist, wrote the best selling book Who Killed Yitzhak Rabin, in which he alleges many amateurish coverups and squarely puts the blame of the Rabin assassination on Shimon Peres and the Shin Bet.
External links
- YigalAmir.com (http://www.yigalamir.com/) (Hebrew)
- Yigal Amir Official Website (http://www.yigalamir.co.il/) (Hebrew)
- No gunpowder on Yigal Amir hands (http://www.barrychamish.com/html/yigal_amir_no_gunpowder.html) (Barry Chamish)
- Shimon Peres takes care of all the players (http://www.barrychamish.com/html/shimon_peres.html) (Barry Chamish)de:Jigal Amir
