Rabin killer Yigal Amir: What I did was a one-time thing
Amir petitions court to be integrated into general prison ward after being kept apart from other prisoners for 15 years.
By Ofra Edelman Tags: Yigal Amir Yitzhak RabinYigal Amir, serving a life sentence for the murder of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, said Monday that "I don't have any political reason to commit a crime now. What I did was a one-time thing."
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Yitzhak Rabin's assassin Yigal Amir attends a court hearing in Nazareth, May 2010. |
| Photo by: Tomer Neuberg |
Amir made the remarks at a hearing on a petition he had filed asking not to be kept separated from the other prisoners. "I've spoken to a lot of prisoners for many years – they never brought forth any proof that I was inciting them to violence, on the contrary," Amir said in his defense.
"The Shin Bet security service simply has a personal vendetta against me," Amir explained.
The convicted murderer asked the court to revoke the order to keep him isolated, to allow his brother Amitay to visit him in prison, and to allow him to pray with a minyan, a quorum of ten male Jewish adults required by Jewish law to fulfill certain religious rites.
During the hearing, Amir said that "there are in fact prisoners who are likely to incite, like [Palestinian leader Marwan] Barghouti and [head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel] Ra'ad Salah, who are kept together with the general population of the prison. Even [nuclear whistleblower Mordechai] Vanunu was taken out of solitary confinement after 11 years. There is no reason for it, especially since a special law has been passed making it illegal to grant me parole."
Amir asked that the court consider integrating him into regular prison wards after being held in confinement for 15 years. "I'm asking, for Rosh Hashana, that they consider it," he said.
"If I am found to incite anyone to violence - they can put me back… If they see that I'm 'behaving properly' then there's no justification for confinement," he said.
He argued further that the reasons for his separation were based on "recycled" Shin Bet info which was no longer relevant.
Amir also criticized his classification as a security prisoner, saying that "I want to stress that during all the early hearings on my confinement the word security was never mentioned, I was viewed as a criminal case… in at least six petitions, the state's representative cited 'protecting his life' [as the justification for confinement] – the issue of state security wasn't even mentioned."
Avraham Tal, who presided over the hearing, ruled that a decision will be handed down on October 5. The prosecutor, attorney Oded Keller, told the court that the decision to keep Amir confined was not based on vengeance or a desire to be contrary, but it was rather a "specific, thought out decision."
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It only takes once you idiot. Stay and rot in jail alone by your miserable self. You're damned lucky Israel hasn't got the death penalty or, you'd be first in line.
This political murderer has no rights for anyhting. He not only took the life of one of Israel's and the Jewish world's greatest heroes, he also intentionally caused the death of every Jew and Palestian killed in the cunnecessary conflict ever since. Yigal Amir is either pure evil or the idiot puppet of pure evil.
If he can be with the prison population, i guess he can have congical visits from his wife? The there could be little Amirs roaming around Israel.
Yigal Amir is an evil man. Just because the other prisoners have committed a crime, doesn't mean that they should be subjected to his abject sociopathy. Let him stay in his cell and turn out the lights. Peace Stephen
If talking about the need to keep sociopaths away from the other prisoners then Marwan Baghrouti should be kept in a 3 x 3 meter hole in the ground.
The quality of mercy supersedes the issue of justice for crime. 'It is twice bless'd; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes'.
Probably even before his son's Bar mitzwah.
It is disgusting he is being held under these conditions and the reason for it is pure spite. Bibi, Barak, Livni, Peres they have all said they are determined that Yigal Amir dies in jail, they pass special laws to ensure this man is treated different to all other prisoners so no matter how good he will never be allowed parol. The man is no serious threat its Shin Bet who feel humiliated because they were supposed to be protecting Rabin but Amir managed to kill him, its Israels left wing court system and spiteful politicians. If Amir had killed anybody else at all other than the PM even for politics he would have been treated like every other murderer and sent to jail might to abit of solitary time but thats it. Vanunu spend 11 years in solitary because he knew nuclear secrets that we didn't want getting passed onto other prisoners, the man had just told a foreign newspaper some of the countries most secret military secrets so there was good reason for keeping him in solitary but even that lasted only 11 years. Yigal Amir killed 1 man and its been decided by the politicians he will never leave prison alive and he has been kept in solitary longer than any other prisoner. We treat our own citizens worse than we treat terrorists who may have killed lots of Israelis without remorse. They don't get kept in solitary, they get visitors much more often than Amir and get all kinds of privvilages he doesn't. Its disgusting the way this man has been treated he should be treated the way anybody else guilty of the same crime would be treated if Rabin wasn't PM at the time he wouldn't be held in these conditions.
THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR YOU TO KILL THE PRIME MINISTER THEN
It's pure and simple. He killed a PM. Any serving PM is going to see his kind of fanaticism too dangerous to be lenient. Otherwise they might encourage someone else to do the same. It doesn't matter what political colour the PM's are, they are men/women of the system, and Amir is a danger to that system, and that can not be tolerated. He can not be executed for fear of making a martyr of him, but he can be kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his life. Disgusting treatment? Maybe you agree with murdering politicians and finish killing off the democracy in this country.
You write that Yigal Amir "killed 1 man"...just your matter-of-fact phraseology of that statement fills me with total digust for you.
He who spills a man's blood by man his blood shall be spilled. IS IT CLEAR FOR YOU?
Zionist, He did kill the PM which in itself is bad enough. He is a sociopath which is not any better and more than killing the PM, he decided that he would elevate his own desires over those of everyone else in the Israeli population and subvert the democratic system with which he apparently firmly disagrees. This makes him a political terrorist as well as a sociopath. That is the good thing about suicide bombers, this never becomes an issue. Peace Stephen
Unbelievable. Unfortunately, one can go to some of the West Bank insane asylums and find many more of his ilk. These Amirs and Goldsteins are ticking time bombs, waiting for their rabbis (mullahs) to incite them.
The guy does not seem to regret the hideous act he committed. He belongs to a prison for the rest of his life.
Does he know that death is also "one time thing" ? When you murder someone, the victim will have no second time.
He's probably planning to kill Bibi. But don't bother, he doesn't seem to bother peace.
He's probably planning to kill Bibi. But don't bother, he doesn't seem to bother peace.
This person did not only kill only Rabin,He also killed the PEACE that could have prevailed 15 years ago, immagine how many lives we could have spared.
This convicted murderer is a danger to our society every moment he is given publicity. He should not be granted any form of liberty. He committed a murder of a national leader for which he shows not an iota of regret or contrition.
Ussishkin, Sociopaths have no conscience. Hence no capacity for contrition. Peace Stephen
life is a one time thing. You live it and then you die. No second chances as far as we know
1) Jerusalem will continue to be united under Israel sovereignty; 2) Large Jewish settlement blocs will become part of the sovereign state of Israel; 3) The Jordan Valley must be viewed in the widest definition of the word and it must remain under Israeli rule; 4) The air space, water and land passes into and out of a future Palestinian state must be controlled by Israel. Rabin, dubbed the Prince of Peace by many around the world, maintained views that are not much, if any, different from those of Israel's present prime minister, Binjamin Netanjahu.
punishment for crime should be the same for everyone. otherwise it is indeed becoming personal vendetta. he's already received maximal punishment allowed by law, he should not be a subject to other unlawful punishments. i certainly do not support him but for the sake of democracy he should be allowed to leave the colitary confinement.
He killed a sitting prime minister out of political considerations...this isnt a case of a murderer being treated like all of the other murderers....he certainly is a security concern. i dont understand how you can see it otherwise.
That's what you get for not using captial punishment when it should have been. This guy is a murderer, and should have been executed, like other murderers should have been. Now this is what you get in return.
Jews don't kill other jews, that is the point, and its being made. Everyday he lives he and others like him will remember that they are lower than lowest of animals, killing a fellow jew!
How many Jews were murdered on the Altalena?
In the USA, he'd long have been sentenced to death and executed. He should thank G-D every day that he was allowed to live by Israeli Law.
... this heinous assassin, representing a particular community in Israel, intended to, and largely succeeded, in changing the course of an entire nation for the worse...
... he's run out of Yitzhak Rabins to shoot.
Yigal Amir committed his crime on his own initiative and the attempt to put that terrible stain on anyone other than Amir himself is disgusting. You and your community didn't compel Ben Dror to murder, although considering your statements here I have some doubts.
... because he does not acknowledge the significance and the immensity of his crime... he presents the punishment as if due to the fact that he might harm somebody else, and that is why he is in solitary confirnement... now he assures us that it was "a-one-time-thing", not to fear that there might be another such deed... he is a heinous manipulator, not only an assasin... his chutzpa has not even taken a dent...
the question is did he outsmart the shin bet and kill Rabin or did someone else do it and blame it on him If he did it himself he might on some level represent certain communities in Israel
No man is expendable in terms of killing. In terms of Treason though his act was high up on the totem pole
The victim tries to appear the target of a conspiracy when she did the most vile thing you could expect from a jew. This just shows the pettiness of this victim. Besides, she has more media coverage than she deserves and use/manipulate it at will. Media stop giving the victim a stage to openly insults the memory of Rabin and our intelligence.
why are you implying it is worse to murder Rabin granted we don't want people repeating such crimes so the punishment must be harsh but after 15 years he doesnt have to be in solitary confinement if other murderers aren't that is assuming that he really did murder Rabin and not someone else
When you commit a crime unprecedented in this country it seems to logical that the conditions of your incarceration be unprecedented as well. Meanwhile during his incarceration he has married and had a child. He is also allowed to vote in democratic elections, even though his actions clearly indicate that he has no regard for democracy.
Are you serious? There's an Israeli citizen you agreed to marry this man? And he even had a kid?????
Allegra: Unfortunately that is true.
Poor child. Living his life as the child of one of the worst criminals in Israel and Jewish history.
No, I think you'll find that the people you refer to are still free to wander wherever they like. You'll find quite a few of them in the Knesset...
Hakan, That is a disgusting comment. That somehow having a political agenda and zealously advocating for that agenda in public for everyone to evaluate at the voting booth is worse than sneaking up and imposing your own political agenda and killing an individual soul. You are some twisted piece of work. Peace. Stephen
Why cant he go free? Israeli Justice is everything but Justice! I have worked for some Gov agencies (...) and it is only legalized mafia, no more no less with personal interests and opportunists! other one time criminals are only serving 10 years or less for murdering somebody, why cant he go free? because he could talk and some Shin bet people could be found "responsible" for Rabin's murdering!!! everybody knows that anyway. Israel - if the same kind of so-called leaders are to run to country in the future - will go extinct... free Amir and catch some terrorist like Abbas and others instead of letting them free; even Olmert is still free so that tells you a lot about Israeli justice...
He robbed an entire country of peace. Let him rot alone in his cell.
Yet Benyamin Netanyahu wwent on to be Prime Minister of Israel. He was acting under orders and should be freed immediately.
Please do not disappoint just an authentic copy from Netanyahu to this lowlife to murder PM Rabin will do. A page full of he said she said will not. Come Sir a splendid British chappie is always a man of his word indeed it is his bond so we await with bated breath this historical document. (Or are you just another lying leftie practicing dialectic.)?
There is more than enough evidence that Netanyahu created the conditions in which a Jew would kill a fellow Jew. Just you have your head so foar up Netanyahu's posterior that you cannot see.
I personally don't know if he killed Rabin or someone else and he is the fall guy
But he must surely have been incited by the poisonous atmosphere created by leading Rabbis and right wing politicians. 'Din rodef' (the duty to kill a Jew who imperils the life or property of another Jew) was revived and applied by leading rabbis to Rabin. One rabbi even regretted he wasn't able to carry out the sentence himself. If you really do love Israel as much as you make out, you should fight against these extremists instead of defending them all of the time.
Remember you claim "he was acting under orders " Is infantile crudity your "evidence"?
Ivor, Seriously! Is that your argument? So long as he was just following orders it's OK?? I guess that means we should do Nuremburg all over again because my understanding was that "just following orders" was not an adequate defense to a cataclysmic failure of conscience. Peace Stephen
However no Rabbi that I know of would say there is a mitzvah or even that it is allowed to kill these people because It is not "Halachah Lemaaseh" It is not practical Halachah only theoretical. Furthermore there are most likely various opinions if that person or persons is a Rodef. Today Jews don't kill people except in war or if the guy attacks you to kill you and you can't stop him by maiming him. If the rabbi wants to curse someone or pray that G-d should cause him to die whats wrong. We are permitted to pray.Also people who are secular would regard this as superstition. However I do agree Rabbis should be careful what they say because some hothead or nut might misunderstand it and act on his disturbed understanding. If we love Israel we should study more Tora and get to know it better instead of distorting it
The bloke who killed Rabin is a right wing religious whack job who acted according to the conditions which were created by politicians and religious nutjobs in Israel in the months and weeks leading up to Rabin' assassination So yes he was acting under orders. And Yitzhak Rabin's wife is on recording directly associating Netanyahu with the murder of her husband. But as I said, you have your head so far up Netanyahu's prosterior you just don't want to see what has even been reported over the years in Haaretz. Sad but true. How is the flooding in Victoria, you volunteered your services?