Just previous to the evening of November 4, 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was a very worried man. His peace process with the PLO was not going well with the Israeli public. The latest poll in the daily newspaper Maariv showed that 78% of the public wanted the process stopped until a national referendum was held to decide whether to continue or not. Only 18% of Israelis trusted Rabin enough to have him carry on his diplomacy without a public referendum. Rabin couldn't step out in public without being heckled. His most humiliating moment came in August when he was introduced at a soccer game and 40,000 fans jeered him in unison.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995. Yigal Amir, a young religious Sephardi Jew, allegedly shot him at close range in the back. That's the official version. But the facts tell a very different story.
Was there a conspiracy to kill Rabin? To better understand what exactly happened, a person has to know about Israeli political history. The events that preceeded and followed this assassination also have to be taken into account. All facts in this case must be fully disclosed.
This was not Israel's first political assassination. In 1933, Chaim Arlosoroff was murdered under interestingly similar circunstances. Arlosoroff was a top Mapai (Labor) leader. Probably the only person that could compete with Ben-Gurion for the leadership of the Labor Zionist movement. At the time of his murder, he was negotiating giving away parts of Eretz Israel to the Arabs.
Most Jews hated Arlosoroff policies. Jabotinsky's Revisionist Union, the predecessor of today's Likud party, expressed strong criticism of Arlosoroff's ideas. After the murder, Ben-Gurion accused Jabotinsky of being responsible for Arlosoroff murder. Ben-Gurion was thus able to become the leader of the Jewish Agency and the Zionist movement. It was later proven that not only was Jabotinsky not involved in Arlosoroff's murder, but that apparently Ben-Gurion may have ordered Arlosoroff execution.
A strikingly similar situation emerged in respect to Rabin's assasination in 1995. Rabin was hated by most Jews in Israel. Rabin was considered a traitor and Israel's most incompetent politician. Polls were giving Netanyahu a clear victory over Rabin if elections had been held then. The Jewish Nation wanted the Oslo process stopped immediately. Even Rabin began to understand that the Oslo accords may have been a grave mistake. Two weeks before his murder, he told several members of knesset that he was planning to slow down the Oslo peace process. Rabin wanted to wait before giving additional land to Arafat.
So what really happened on November 4, 1995? How is it possible that Yigal Amir was able to penetrate the "safe zone" where Rabin's bulletproof car was parked? How is it possible that not even one drop of blood was found at the site of the alleged shooting?
As soon as the bullets were fired, a Shabak agent yelled, "Srak. Srak," or "they're blanks, they're blanks," while another agent told Rabin's wife Leah a few moments later not to worry because "the shots were blanks."
One thing is clear: The Prime Minister of Israel was murdered. A terrible crime was commited. And this is a crime that can be solved. Rabin's wife Leah said on several ocassions that many of the people involved in killing his husband were still free. Having Yigal Amir in jail is not enough. Certainly, he could not have acted alone. Rabin's son Yuval and daughter Dalia have made similar statements. The murder of Yitzhak Rabin must be fully investigated. The public has the right to know the truth.
Since Rabin's murder in 1995, several books, articles and reports have been published in Israel and abroad. A conspiracy appears to have taken place, a conspiracy to kill Rabin. Barry Chamish has been in the forefront of investigating Rabin's murder. He wrote the best-selling book in Israel "Who killed Yitzhak Rabin." He mentions a lot of evidence that was totally ignored by the Shamgar commission investigating the case.
Some members of the Labor party tried to censor and ban his book in Israel so it will not be read by the public. Why are they so afraid of this book? Chamish theory, supported by available evidence, is that Yigal Amir did not shoot Rabin. Rabin was actually shot in his car, by his own people, on the way to the hospital. Chamish book is extremely interesting reading and it should be read by everyone seeking justice for the murder of Yitzhak Rabin.
Barry Chamish writes:
"There are basically only two explanations for Rabin's assassination.
One is that the Shabak, one of the world's most respected security
organizations, is totally incompetent. The other is that agents on the
scene allowed the assassination to take place. Probably with Rabin's
knowledge..."
"Amir was to have shot Rabin with blanks, Rabin was to have
miraculously escaped an assassination attempt...
The public would react with revulsion against the attempted
assassination by an extremist right winger and the government could
justify a crackdown against opponents of the peace process."
Although Chamish does not write in his book who was behind the murder, most people who read this book get the impression that Shimon Peres may have been involved, and maybe even master minded the whole operation. The evidence in this book supports this theory. Chamish has said that he also believes Shimon Peres is responsible for Rabin's murder. Actually, several members of knesset may also believe this theory. Shimon Peres has strongly denied any involvement, referring to the accusations as a "blood libel".
The first thing a police investigation should determine is who had any reasons to kill Rabin. Although it is true that several elements in the right wing and religious camps hated Rabin's policy, none of them wanted to see him dead. Certainly not one in the national religious camp would have wanted to kill him. Not one in that political camp would approve of a Jew killing another Jew. For them, Rabin was to be defeated in the next elections.
Just like Arlosoroff, Rabin had fierce enemies in his own party. Shimon Peres saw Yitzhak Rabin as his worst political oponent within the Labor party. Rabin was always #1 in the party, while Peres was #2. Shimon Peres was nicknamed "The Looser" by his party collegues, because he could never win an election. Peres happily shook Arafat's hand to get the Nobel peace prize. Rabin, on the other hand, was hesitant to shake Arafat's hand.
When Rabin was murdered, Peres became Prime Minister, and accelerated the process of giving away land to Arafat. Peres immediately attacked all religious Jews in Israel blaming them for the crime, and arrested several prominent Rabbis.
In Arlosoroff's case, Ben-Gurion got rid of strong political competition from Arlosoroff and Jabotinsky. In Rabin's case, Peres was able to get rid of Rabin, his longtime Labor opponent, and Netanyahu together with the whole national religious camp. Peres was thus able to continue the Oslo process which was his idea, not Rabin's.
Apparently, Peres had the motives, and the evidence is against him. But Shimon Peres cannot and should not be accused of anything until proven guilty in a court of law. A full investigation should be conducted by the police, and if necessary, by the Interpol. For some misterious reason, the Labor party has been applying political pressure to prevent such an investigation. If they are not guilty, they should have nothing to fear.
A good example is the case of Avishai Raviv.
Avishai Raviv is the person who gave Yigal Amir the gun that killed Rabin. He also made the call claiming responsability for the murder. He also tried to encourage religious youth to engage in violent protests against Rabin. He created the fake organization Eyal, that appeared in the staged TV report claiming that this group was planning to attack Rabin for being a traitor. Avishai Raviv has been accused of participating in Rabin's murder. But members in the Labor party and the left are protecting him, and he has not been brought to trial.
Who is Raviv? He was working for the Shabak as an agitator in the national religious camp. He is being protected from justice by the Israeli left. They are probably afraid that if Raviv goes to trial, he will tell the real story of who killed Rabin. Raviv's boss, the head of the Shabak at the time is Carmi Gillon, a good friend of Shimon Peres. By the way, Yigal Amir was also a Shabak agent.
And while Raviv is walking free, an innocent girl called Margalit HarShefi was jailed. She was falsely accused of not preventing Rabin's murder. Apparently, she heard Yigal Amir say he was going to kill Rabin, just like several other people did. But no one believed he would do it. Nevertheless, people contacted the police and the Shabak regarding Amir's comments, and those warnings were ignored.
The material in reference to this conspiracy and cover-up grows every day. Hopefully, those who were involved in Rabin's murder will be punished like they deserve. Everyone is responsible to keep this issue in the agenda, so it will not be forgoten. Everyone has to demand a full investigation and complete punishment to those who murdered Rabin.
