Yigal Amir

Yigal Amir shot Yitzhak Rabin at a peace rally in Tel Aviv on 4 November 1995 and has never expressed regret. He was born in Herzliya to a Yemenite Jewish family, studied at a yeshiva that combined religious study with military service, served in the Golani Brigade, and was reading law and computer science at Bar-Ilan University when he decided to kill the prime minister. His stated reasoning was religious and specific: that the Oslo accords would hand parts of the biblical land of Israel to Palestinian control, that Rabin therefore fell under the halakhic categories of din rodef and din moser - the pursuer who may be killed to save his victims, and the informer who endangers Jews - and that certain rabbis had said so, or had failed to say otherwise clearly enough. No rabbi was ever convicted of incitement over it. The months before had seen demonstrations at which Rabin was depicted in SS uniform, with Likud politicians on the platform. Amir waited in the car park below the rally, fired three shots at close range as Rabin walked to his car after singing a song of peace, and was arrested on the spot. He was sentenced to life plus fourteen years and is held in near isolation. Oslo did not survive; every Israeli election since has been fought on ground he changed. He married in prison and fathered a son by conjugal visit after a court battle. The Shin Bet had an agent provocateur inside the far right who had reported on the atmosphere, and the subsequent inquiry found the security failure at the rally grave enough to end the careers of those responsible. Amir's brother Hagai was convicted of preparing the ammunition. Successive Israeli governments have refused every petition for clemency.

MyHistorian
A causal knowledge graph of history