Yitzhak Rabin went through a very difficult time before he was assassinated.
That's when I admired him most. Why?
There was tremendous propaganda against the Oslo Accords.
They made a coffin
and dressed his effigy in SS uniform, Nazi uniform.
And I saw how he took it,
with extraordinary courage.
That was inspiring.
He didn't back down, he wasn't afraid.
One day we passed the Wingate Institute
and people spat and shouted at him.
Amazing.
He acted like he didn't care.
Not that he wasn't worried...
but he felt that support for Oslo had diminished
and if elections were held...
we probably wouldn't win.
That's why we decided to hold that rally,
that gathering...
in what's now called Rabin Square.
Were you afraid people wouldn't come?
He was desperate.
He didn't think people would come.
When we got to the rally he was stunned to see...
the hundreds of thousands of people...
and the unprecedented excitement and enthusiasm.
We stood on the balcony of City Hall.
Beneath us was a pool...
and the youngsters jumped into the water shouting, “Rabin! Rabin!”
“Peace! Oslo!”
He was beside himself.
Everything went smoothly...
and then that gentleman came along, the assassin.
There are all sorts of conspiracy theories.
What do you think? You were closest to the events.
My opinion is that sedition was in the air...
not organized sedition,
but the atmosphere made it possible.
How did it manifest?
They dressed his effigy in Nazi uniform.
They carried a coffin marked “Here lies Rabin.”
They spat at him, shouted at him, swore at him.
It was horrible.
Did he talk to you about it?
I saw it for myself.
They did the same to me,
but with him it was horrifying.
Horrifying.
One problem was what to do about it afterwards.
I could've turned it into a civil war.
Shimon, I'd like to go back
to the murder and the sedition
since they have implications on the current situation.
That is, whenever Israeli leaders make concessions
based on their historical perspective
in order to come to agreements,
all hell breaks loose.
We've even seen recently -
I spoke to Dalia Rabin,
and she said that on Facebook, to this day,
over 20 years later, people still slander Rabin.
Going back to the sedition of 20 years ago,
how did you feel as the people initiating a process
intended to create peace with the Palestinians?
We refused to back down.
Even if we thought we might have to pay a dear price.
If you send out a soldier, he may get killed,
and the same is true of a leader.
There's no difference.
I knew it might lead to catastrophe...
but in terms of propaganda, the Likud outdid us.
Where did the negative elements like Yigal Amir come from?
Where in Israeli society?
He was a religious fellow...
he was even a yeshiva student,
and he absorbed all the propaganda against dividing Israel.
It was the continuation of the debate over the partition plan.
Now back to Rabin.
How do you see his last days?
The threat made him even more determined.
I said that to begin with.
That was when I most admired Rabin
because of his ability to stand up to the threats.
How did that manifest?
For instance, he gave up no ground.
He didn't cancel one meeting. He didn't cancel one appearance.
He paid no attention when people shouted at him and derided him.
He acted as if it didn't concern him...
and he carried on.
He gave up no ground.
No ground. That's the test.
If Yitzhak Rabin hadn't been assassinated,
would we have achieved - maybe not peace,
but a more stable situation?
Yes.
Permit me to say that I too am deeply moved.
I wish to thank each and every one of you
for coming here to take a stand against violence and for peace.
This government...
which I am privileged to head...
together with my friend Shimon Peres...
decided to give peace a chance,
a peace that will solve most of Israel's problems.
I was a military man for 27 years.
I fought as long as there was no chance for peace.
I believe that there is now a chance for peace,
a great chance...
and we must take advantage of it...
for the sake of those standing here
and for those who are not here, and they are many.
I've always believed that the majority of the people want peace
and are willing to take risks for peace...
and you here,
by attending this rally,
demonstrate, together with many others who did not come,
that the people truly desire peace.
It's odd
that the footage of this horrific event
which someone filmed
is in our hands now.
The assassin managed to stay, unnoticed, for 40 minutes
in what was supposed to be a “sterile” zone.
The obvious conclusion
is that security was disregarded
in the northern parking lot...
the crowd there was unsupervised
as were the pedestrians coming from the east and the west...
the lighting in the parking lot, the roof of the City Garden mall...
and everything else having to do with the area.
Everyone knew that it would be used
by the prime minister, the foreign minister,
all the dignitaries,
it was the passageway between the restricted stage area
and the guarded car, everyone knew it.
A very dangerous zone that required special attention.
There was none whatsoever.
Back on-the-record for protocol's sake
about the chain of events on November 4
from the moment you arrived at the square.
I arrived at the square in the evening
at around 7:30 or so.
As soon as I got there I thought about the best place to film from,
and I decided that the best place was as close to the stage as possible.
That's where I set up. It was very crowded.
There were lots of people,
which is why I stayed there most of the time.
The most important thing was to film Yitzhak Rabin's speech.
I filmed Rabin's speech. I was very pleased.
And afterwards I decided there was no point staying there.
It was very crowded, people were pushing
and there was no point staying for the musical performances
because that wasn't the important part of the film.
So I left and started looking for a place to film the last footage of the rally.
I turned around
and saw the prime minister's big official state car.
I think.
I don't know whose it is. A government vehicle.
At that point, after the prime minister's speech,
where were you standing?
I was still down below, but
I had a feeling that I wasn't welcome there.
And it wasn't a good angle either. It was very crowded.
We can see the camera wobble.
The police didn't tell me not to go up. I wasn't considered suspicious.
Later, when I went up, I started filming.
I went up on the City Garden roof.
- How did you go up? - Through the mall.
Not through the VIP exit. Not that way.
What did you do up there?
I started filming and I saw
how disorganized it was
and for some reason I had a bad feeling.
I can't explain why.
I want to show you a diagram of the site.
Come with us to the archive, please.
Were there any other police here besides the security guard you mentioned?
I think there were two plainclothes policemen.
- One approached me. - What did he say to you?
The policeman was the one who stressed me out.
He was fine. He questioned me,
asked what I was doing there, where I was filming.
He inspected my camera for anything unusual.
He asked for my ID and all my details.
I asked him, “Don't you see what's going on here?”
He didn't like my question.
I'm not sure I used those exact words.
Anyway, then he told me,
“You can film everything,
but only film Rabin as he gets into the car.
Don't film him coming down the steps.”
After he said that, you can understand how I felt.
I started imagining all sorts of things after I heard that.
What did you say to him?
I said...
“Look, I don't think -
I don't think you have the right to tell me what to film.
Is something secret going on here?”
He said, “There's nothing secret going on,
but if you keep insisting,
I can make you leave.”
I said, “lf you want to get rid of me, get rid of me,
but I'll complain to the police.
I don't think you have the right to tell me what to do.”
Then he said, “Okay, fine.”
He gave in and told me to stay there...
and that's where I shot the footage.
How did you feel as you filmed it?
After I spoke to the policeman...
I started picturing some very ugly scenarios.
Not only because the policeman made me think bad thoughts.
It was also the atmosphere,
the disorder,
the intense darkness.
And also because of what the policeman told me.
But mainly because of the atmosphere.
It made me think that bad things could happen.
It had a very powerful, emotional impact on me...
and I realized that I might or I was liable
or -
to film in a totally different way.
In what way?
I looked through the viewfinder,
wondering if someone like that was out there, God forbid...
and then I focused on Yigal Amir.
I looked to see if he seemed suspicious.
In the end I decided: He isn't.
He must be a plainclothes cop.
A plainclothes cop just spoke to me
so he must be one too.
I want to tell you,
with all due respect for your impartial attitude,
it's time to take off the velvet gloves.
A bunch of incompetents is leading us on
and the truth is here in black and white.
Greetings from Tel-Ad Studios in Jerusalem.
We have an announcement.
About half an hour ago, after the solidarity rally
in Tel Aviv's Kings Square,
there was an attempt on Yitzhak Rabin's life.
Three gunshots were fired at him
and the gunman was captured.
The prime minister was taken to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
His condition is unknown at this point.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was wounded tonight
by two or three gunshots
at the end of the peace rally in Tel Aviv's Kings Square.
No one knows what the prime minister's true condition is
but since he's on the operating table...
we can assume that Yitzhak Rabin is badly wounded.
There were gunshots in Kings Square a few moments ago.
So far we know that the prime minister was shot
and evacuated to Ichilov Hospital.
...his right foot into the car and suddenly gunshots rang out.
- Was he hit? - No. I saw that Rabin wasn't hit.
The prime minister was shot in his upper torso but not his head.
His condition is critical but stable, right, Smadar?
The good news is that
the prime minister's condition is critical but stable.
I'm entering the station with the suspect.
Hurry up. Bring him in.
Move it.
Who's running the registry?
- Who's running the registry? - I'm here.
Stand up straight.
- Can I have this? - Take it.
- What's your last name? - Amir.
What?
Amir?
- First name? - Yigal.
ID number?
023 789 42.
Where's the serial number of his gun?
His gun -
- Don't you know where it is? - No, it was chaotic.
Where's the gun?
- I need the serial number. - What do you mean, where's the gun?
- We don't know. - Wait a minute.
- What's your father's name? - Shlomo.
- What? - Shlomo.
- Your mother's name? - Geula.
Okay. Take him away.
- Any identifying marks or scars? - No.
Tattoos?
Dentures?
Bring him to her.
Right hand, please.
- Can I have a man do this? - No.
It's not your decision today.
Index finger.
Thumb.
Call Dr. Barbash, now.
What's your name?
- What's your name? - Yigal Amir.
Empty his pockets, please.
Where's the gun? Misha, the registrar?
Where's the gun? Empty his pockets.
- He has side pockets. Skullcap. - Here's his wallet.
- Can I have my skullcap, please? - Search him again.
- My skullcap? - No, you can't have it now.
Here is the report.
- Ten. - Saliva tube.
Here we see the director of Ichilov Hospital,
Professor Gabi Barbash.
What's the prime minister's condition?
He arrived at the hospital immediately after the incident
with no pulse and no blood pressure.
He was flatlining.
He was brought into the CPR room and given a blood transfusion.
He was diagnosed with chest and stomach wounds.
A drain was inserted
since the chest wound is putting pressure on the lung.
In order to relieve the pressure, a drain was inserted
and he's now being taken to the operating room.
He's sustained a multi-systemic wound,
large blood vessels in the chest and stomach
as well as a severe spinal column wound.
Take that scumbag to interrogation.
Bring him into the interrogation room.
No solid information yet,
we'll put this very cautiously but it seems,
according to reliable sources,
Bar-Ilan University employees have identified the assassin.
He's a young religious student at Bar-Ilan University,
a law student.
Word is that his first name is Yigal but I can't say for sure.
The man who shot the prime minister is Yigal Amir,
a single 26-year-old from Herzliya.
He's a member of Eyal,
a radical right-wing movement.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God -
Here at Ichilov Hospital, Haim,
it's pandemonium and panic.
Dozens of vehicles are barreling in with sirens blasting.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres,
President Weizmann,
the prime minister's wife, Leah Rabin,
cabinet ministers, Knesset members,
defense force agents, secret service agents, are constantly arriving,
and we're gathered at the hospital entrance.
The police are keeping us at bay,
not letting us any closer,
pushing away the dozens of camera crews
from all over the world. Everyone is distraught.
As we mentioned,
a Jewish vengeance organization has taken responsibility for the attack,
in a beeper message sent directly after the shooting,
the Jewish vengeance organization stated,
“We missed this time,
but maybe we'll do better next time.”
The government of Israel announces in dismay,
in great sadness, and in deep sorrow,
the death of Prime Minister and Defense Minister
Yitzhak Rabin,
who was shot by an assassin -
- Rabin is dead! - tonight in Tel Aviv.
May his memory be blessed.
Eitan Haber has just announced
that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is dead.
More than that, Yaakov,
I cannot say.
The time is now 11:15 PM.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is dead.
He was murdered in the battle for peace.
The soldier who fought many wars
was murdered in the battle for peace.
And he wasn't able to -
By your leave, holy congregation,
we'll begin the Pulsa diNura ceremony.
Before Yom Kippur we were informed
that the government of the villain Yitzhak Rabin
is not only handing over Hebron, the city of our forefathers, to our enemies,
it is even giving them
control of the Jewish cemetery there.
When I heard that, I knew that no holds were barred.
The Pulsa diNura curse comes from the Talmud
and was only cast twice since the Middle Ages, against Trotsky,
and now, against Yitzhak Rabin.
The prime minister is the enemy of the people
and he will find his death in less than a month from now.
And upon him, Yitzhak son of Rosa Cohen,
known as Yitzhak Rabin,
we have leave to call upon the Angels of Destruction
to wield their swords against this evil man
and the Angels of Destruction, emissaries of the Lower Regions,
have no right to pity him
or forgive his sins.
And may all the curses be upon him, amen!
Good morning.
Mr. Nolte,
please call on the next witness, Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair.
Good morning.
Please state your name, ID number
and position.
Michael Ben-Yair.
ID number 10 38 67 47.
I am the current attorney general.
It's my duty to warn you that you must speak the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth,
or you may be punished as prescribed by law.
Please tell us what was written in the letter by Major General Y. Levy,
Israel Police head of investigations.
Major General Y. Levy asked me to conduct an investigation
concerning complaints against a number of rabbis
who were suspected of passing a Din Rodef against the late prime minister,
thereby rendering his life forfeit.
I have the letter here. I'll read it to you.
“Regarding: the investigation of the rabbis.
The attorney general read your aforementioned letter
and the attached investigation file
and after consulting with the state attorney
and the director of the Criminal Division of the state attorney's office,
he asked me to respond that in accordance with the police departments position
and the state attorney's recommendation,
the attorney general has decided to close the case
due to lack of sufficient evidence.
The investigation was initiated
due to complaints against a number of rabbis
suspected of passing a Din Rodef against the late prime minister,
Yitzhak Rabin, RIP, thereby rendering his life forfeit.
Rabbis Dov Lior, Nachum Rabinowitz,
Eliezer Melamed and Shmuel Dvir were investigated.
Two people claimed that Rabbi Dvir told them
that he spoke to Rabbis Dov Lior and Nachum Rabinowitz
and gathered from what they said
that they passed a Din Rodef against Yitzhak Rabin.
This is merely hearsay countered by absolute denial.
The aforementioned rabbis deny
that they passed a Din Rodef against Yitzhak Rabin.
Rabbi Dvir denies saying these things to the aforementioned two people.
The rabbis deny all acquaintance with Rabbi Dvir
and insist that they have always warned against acts of violence.”
Continue, please.
“Regarding the letter to the great rabbinic jurists
from Rabbis Dov Lior, Daniel Shilo and Eliezer Melamed
asking about the content of the Din Moser concerning the PM and his ministers.
The content of the letter was deemed insufficient grounds for criminal charges.
The interrogee's also claimed that the matter was theoretical
and that the purpose of the letter was
to receive a Jewish-law opinion on the existing situation.”
The letter was signed by Noam Solberg,
senior adviser to the attorney general
and copies were sent to State Attorney Ms. Nava Ben-Or,
director of the Criminal Division of the state attorney's office,
and to Ms. Talia Sasson, head of the attorney general's office's
Integrated Committee for Dealing with Crimes of Sedition.
On what were the claims against them based?
Against Dov Lior and Nachum Rabinowitz,
two people claimed that they heard separately
from Rabbi Dvir that he spoke to the rabbis
and gathered that they passed a Din Rodef
against the late Yitzhak Rabin.
Rabbi Dvir denies this,
and the rabbis deny all acquaintance with Rabbi Dvir.
The rabbis also insist
that they always warn against the use of violence.
Regarding the letter to the great rabbinic jurists,
the letter from Dov Lior, Daniel Shilo and Eliezer Melamed,
the letter was weighed up...
and deemed insufficient grounds for criminal charges.
Mrs. Orot,
I understand we have that letter.
Could you please read it to the commission?
I'll read the rabbis' letter.
Rabbi Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba,
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, secretary of the Judea-Samaria Rabbinical Committee,
and Rabbi Daniel Shilo, rabbi of Kedumim.
“What judgment does this evil government and its leader deserve?
Can they be considered accomplices to murder
perpetrated by terrorists?
Since after all, they are responsible for their increased power
and their armament.
According to Jewish law should they be tried,
and what would be their penalty should they be found guilty?
If they can be punished by the religious court,
is it every Jew's obligation to see to it
that they are brought to trial in religious court,
or, if given no choice, in a secular court?
Thus write the great religious jurists.
And is it the public leaders' duty
to warn the prime minister and his ministers at this terrible time
that if, following the bitter test of the Oslo Accords,
they continue to apply it throughout Judea and Samaria,
they will be liable by Torah law
to the punishment accorded to those
who hand over Jewish lives and property to gentiles?
We can no longer silence the question that bursts from our pained hearts.”
- Thank you. That's enough. - “Thus write the great jurists.
Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
and Rabbi Daniel Shilo.”
- Yes. - Thank you.
- Were there other statements? - Yes.
A particularly vehement statement...
by Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz
which was secretly recorded
by Mr. Frankenthal.
Rabbi Rabinowitz compares the Israeli government
to the Nazi regime.
He even mentions the possibility
of planting land mines
if IDF soldiers should come to evacuate the settlements.
Under interrogation,
Rabbi Rabinowitz stated...
that he is against violence
and the day when he spoke privately with Mr. Frankenthal
he was apparently very upset
since it was Holocaust Remembrance Day among other things.
I don't get it.
You decided to close the case despite all this?
Look, I can't base a criminal charge
on these types of statements.
In order to prove grounds for a crime,
the statement had to be publicized.
It was not.
This is not to detract from the severity of the things that were said and heard,
some of which are infuriating and unacceptable.
They should reconsider their statements.
And how, in your opinion, can they reconsider their statements
if the legal system under your jurisdiction doesn't deal with sedition
and willingly chooses not to?
As I said,
hearsay is not grounds for incrimination.
Some of this hearsay, as we recall,
resulted in unnecessary harm.
I want to quote Avtalion from the Sayings of the Fathers,
a verse with which I closed my report
regarding the investigation of the rabbis.
“Sages, be careful with your words
lest you bring exile upon yourselves
and you are exiled to a place of evil waters...
and your pupils drink of them and they die...
and desecrate God's name.”
Yes. I made a note to myself that I'd like to read to you.
I want to state that it grieves me that this important letter
was brought to the attention of this commission only after it issued its report
regarding the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
It's an important document which should have been discussed in its proper time.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
May God's grace be upon us
and may He guide our hands.
Bless You, O Lord our God,
who sanctified us and commanded us to affix a mezuzah.
Bless You, O Lord our God,
who sustained us and brought us to this day.
Yigal, I left you Tractate Sanhedrin on the desk.
It talks about...
Joab and Abner on page 49-A,
the Din Rodef law.
You'll get my meaning.
“And they brought Joab -
They brought Joab before his judges.
They brought Joab before Solomon to judge him.
He said, 'Why did you kill Abner?'
'Why did you kill Abner?'
Joab said, 'I avenged Asahel's blood.'
'Asahel was a persecutor.'
For it is written that Asahel pursued Abner in order to kill him
and Abner justly killed him in self-defense.
'He should have saved himself by striking one of his organs.'
He replied, 'He couldn't.'
He replied, 'He aimed at his fifth rib.'
As it is written: Abner struck him in the fifth rib with his hilt.
Rabbi Yohanan said: In the fifth rib,
where the gall bladder and liver are.
'He couldn't strike only one of his organs.'
He replied, 'Abner was right.
Abner was innocent.”'
Tell me what you were doing before November 4, 1995.
I was a law and computer science student at Bar-Ilan University.
When did you start?
September '93.
Bar-Ilan also has a school of religious studies.
So you stopped studying law?
Yes. You could say I stopped.
Until November 4 I was a law student.
- How old are you? - 25.
Describe the events of November 4.
I attended morning prayers as usual at the synagogue near home.
In my prayers I asked to succeed in killing the prime minister
and to get away unharmed.
Then I packed a few things for school.
I took my gun from above my desk...
and cocked it after sorting through the bullets.
I loaded it with a hollow-point bullet, then a regular bullet,
another hollow-point,
another regular bullet. About 10 bullets.
I made sure the gun would shoot, cocked it...
and left the house.
Excuse me.
Hello, everyone. I'd like to begin.
The incident takes place in the settlement of Beit El in the West Bank.
A large police unit bursts into the yeshiva.
They arrest a young student studying with friends.
A rabbi tries to intervene. There are many policemen there.
Dror Adani, 23, talks of his plans with Yigal Amir:
to fire a bazooka at Arafat's helicopter when he arrives in Ramallah,
destroy the Palestinians' electric grid
and torch their fields.
The location: Beit El.
The police arrest a religious girl.
Margalit Har-Shefi.
Twenty years old. Yigal Amir's girlfriend.
Her job: to steal weaponry
from the Beit El armory.
She's aware of Yigal Amir's plan.
She spent hours with Amir's brother.
She knew if there was a plan to kill Rabin or Peres
or both.
The location: a villa in Herzliya Pituah.
First Sergeant Arik Schwartz, 23.
Yigal Amir gives him 100 shekels
to find a soldier who'll lend him a gun with a silencer.
The police find an impressive number of guns in the basement.
Arik Schwartz is in on the plan
to poison the Rabin family's water supply.
The plan is never carried out.
He lives with his parents in Herzliya Pituah.
- Do you see - - Questions later.
Do you see the direct connection
between the sedition that preceded the murder
by rabbis, by settlers,
by government officials, by prime ministers,
- to this despicable murder? - I can't answer -
- Where's the connection? - I can't answer political questions.
- It isn't political, it's a conspiracy. - Ma'am, I want to move on.
The assassin's relatives are now being investigated.
In some of their houses arms caches were found
big enough for a terrorist organization.
Magazines, homemade grenades,
delay mechanisms, smuggled bullets,
clock mechanisms and missile launchers.
We initiated investigations.
These are the weapons.
We initiated investigations and plan further investigations.
Charges were pressed against the first accomplice and he's being held.
The suspect is
Hagai Amir, the assassin's brother,
who confessed to preparing the bullets used for the assassination.
But Hagai Amir denies knowing what Amir's intentions were.
Both brothers are suspected of belonging to a radical movement.
The police are looking for other members of the movement.
You can ask questions now. Thank you.
So your conclusion based on the evidence
is that Rabin's assassination was the result of a conspiracy
by a political or religious organization?
Rabin's assassination could be the result of a radical right-wing conspiracy.
But we're extending our investigations among movement activists.
Next question.
Did Yigal Amir have accomplices who helped him get past security
and commit the murder?
As far as we know, Amir acted alone. Next question.
Was there any previous information indicating a possible right-wing attack?
All those accomplices,
and neither the police nor the secret service knew anything?
The police know of no previous information
regarding a Jewish assassin. Last question.
I understand the police functioned badly during the incident.
What is your response?
We say that the police did their job properly.
- That's all. Thank you. - No!
- We have more questions! - No more questions.
We want to get back to work.
Thank you. That's all.
Thank you.
- We want to get back to work. - The nerve!
I want all the files.
Go ahead, guys. Quick.
We want the truth. We want the whole truth.
What happened there?
Where are the fingerprints?
I'm missing fingerprints. That's mine.
I need Hagai's. Now.
Hurry up, people.
I'd like to bring up
an ideological issue.
I'm not sure the commission has a mandate to look into it
but I'll read it to you anyway.
I'm sure you're aware of these things but we think
it's important and it constitutes a background
to the bloody confrontation we're in the midst of.
There are right-wing religious political circles
that perceived Israel's victory in 1967 in theological terms
and saw it as the beginning of the Redemption
and an opportunity to realize the dream of the Greater Israel.
From these circles came the Gush Emunim movement in 1974
led by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook
whose primary goal was to force the Labour administration
to build as many settlements as possible all over Greater Israel
and I quote:
“After the Likud came to power in 1977,
Matitiyahu Drobles,
head of the Settlement Division of the Zionist Federation,
prepared a comprehensive plan on behalf of the government
to build settlements throughout the West Bank,
mainly in eastern Samaria
next to Palestinian-populated areas.”
Ariel Sharon, then agriculture minister
and supervisor of the Israel Land Administration,
contributed significantly to the settlement effort.
Through Sharon's plan dozens of settlements were built
in areas of high-density Palestinian population
including the Hebron region
and the western strip of hills adjacent to the Green Line.
To sum up,
in 1977 there were 31 settlements
with a population of 4,400 settlers.
In 1992 there are 120 settlements
with 100,500 settlers.
Interesting study.
And now to the point.
The establishment of settlements in the West Bank
constitutes a violation of two important international law treaties
which prohibit the establishment of settlements.
This violation is the cause
of a long list of violations of the Palestinians' human rights.
I'm referring to the Hague Convention
concerning the laws and customs of ground war
and its bylaws from 1907
and the Fourth Geneva Convention concerning civilian rights
in wartime from 1949.
Israel promised to uphold them.
In 1971 I served as attorney general,
and my position was then and still is
that since Egypt and Jordan's sovereignty
was never recognized internationally,
these territories are not considered occupied territories.
It's true that Israel promised to uphold
the humanitarian directives of the Fourth Geneva Convention,
but it never defined which directives it intended to uphold.
But Article 49 of the Geneva Convention states
that the occupying power will not expel,
nor transfer its civilian population to the occupied territory.
The settlements also constitute a violation of the Hague Convention
since they weren't built for the benefit of the local Palestinian population
but for the benefit of the Israeli population.
The government initiated, built and funded most of the settlements
while creating a very generous system
of benefits and incentives to encourage people to move to them.
Article 49 doesn't prohibit the building of settlements.
The directives of the Geneva Convention
regarding the transference of populations to occupied territory are not prohibitions.
The settlements weren't built in order to expel the Arab populace.
Israel runs a complex bureaucratic and legal system in the West Bank
whose purpose is to take over hundreds of thousands of acres
of Palestinian land, some of which is privately owned,
in order to build new settlements
or to expand the existing settlements.
Israel's main methods
are the seizure of land for military purposes,
declaration or registration of land as government property
and expropriation of land for public use.
Between 1979 and 1992
over 228,000 acres of West Bank land
were declared government property.
Remember, in 1992 the Rabin administration decided
to freeze construction in the settlements.
As I mentioned, Israel used these three means
to take over about half the area of the West Bank.
At the same time, independently,
settlers are taking over privately-owned Palestinian land,
destroying olive trees and damaging Palestinian property,
houses and vehicles,
while the authorities almost always avoid enforcing the law
and returning the land to its rightful owners.
According to Chief Justice Aharon Barak,
the Hague Convention revolves around two main axes.
One, ensuring the legitimate rights to security
of the side which takes over land through combat...
and two, securing the interests of the civilian population
in the given territory.
The military commander may not place the national,
military, economic or social interests of his own country
before the interests of the local populace,
and this is how the army conducts itself.
Gentlemen, let's get back to our subject
which is the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin.
I don't understand the connection between your questions
regarding the Geneva Convention and government policy in the territories
and the Rabin assassination.
That's exactly my point.
That's our investigative committee's lacuna.
It doesn't address the religious school of thought
that legitimized the violation of human rights
and theft of Palestinian land
which led directly to hooliganism.
In the final analysis, Yigal Amir's gun was only the murder weapon.
Behind it is a series of laws,
the humiliation and trampling of the Palestinian populace
and moonstruck rabbis with weird religious edicts
who no one in this grand legal system
saw fit to bring to trial.
Your arguments are interesting intellectually
but it is not within this commission's authority to address them.
Our job is to examine the operative acts of negligence in the Rabin case,
not their political background.
Not of the rabbis, not of the circle of settlers you describe
and not of the parliamentary right wing.
Thank you, gentlemen.
We'll meet again tomorrow morning at 9:00.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
City dwellers and country dwellers,
supporters of Likud and Tsomet and the NRP and Moledet...
but also supporters of the Labour Party
and those who voted for Yitzhak Rabin,
we are here to say on behalf of an even bigger public
which is watching us now, we're here to say three things -
Death to Rabin! Death to Rabin!
We are here to protect Jerusalem,
to protect the Galilee, to protect the Negev.
The people of Israel,
this ancient, strong nation,
is awakening from the illusions it was sold,
shaking off the great swindle it was led into.
Even now the vast majority supports us.
With an additional effort by all of us,
in the next elections we will, God willing,
see an incontestable victory by the National Bloc
because what we are fighting for is true peace,
not a false peace.
We are fighting for the expansion of Jewish settlement,
not reduction.
We are fighting for Jewish immigration,
not the Palestinian right of return.
But this administration isn't only trying to lead the public astray.
It's leading itself astray too.
We'll get rid of Rabin with blood and fire!
Rabin traitor! Rabin traitor!
Our alternative has a name.
It's called Zionism.
That is our alternative. Zionism.
We'll get rid of Rabin with blood and fire!
Rabin, resign, we don't want you anymore!
I call on the masses gathered here today...
to go out to the junctions,
to go out to the streets,
to go out to the city squares
and demonstrate our disappointment with the governments policies,
our opposition to bringing Arafat to the Land of Israel
and our determination to preserve our state, our hills
and our city of Jerusalem.
He's a traitor! He's a traitor!
Death to Rabin! Death to Rabin!
The current administration doesn't have a Jewish majority
and therefore it has no authority whatsoever
to give away parts of the Land of Israel.
The very signing,
the declaration of giving away parts of Israel,
constitutes the concession of parts of the Torah...
and that is a desecration.
The Oslo Accord means nothing,
and no administration that represents the Jewish people
should even consider it.
The Accord is a violation of the Torah for three reasons.
Giving away parts of the Land of Israel,
the Holy Land,
is a violation of Torah law, an explicit violation.
Placing the security of Jews
in the hands of gentiles, in the hands of others...
is risking lives, an invitation to murder.
Furthermore...
the emissary may not act against the wishes of he who sent him.
And the majority of Israelis, the Jewish majority,
and certainly in the Diaspora,
did not grant this minority government
the authority to act in fundamental, essential matters
that determine our fate.
And now...
the question must be asked:
Must not the leaders of the public...
warn this administration...
warn the prime minister and his ministers
that if they continue
to act on this awful treaty,
if they continue to try to apply it in the territories...
they will be liable by Torah law, by Jewish law...
to the Din Moser, punishment accorded to traitors...
since they are placing the lives of Jews in the hands of gentiles?
That's all I have to say.
- Let's begin. - Who has the floor?
Gentlemen, I have something to say.
If we want to stop the peace process,
we have to attack Rabin
and only Rabin.
To crush him and his legitimacy in security issues,
to undermine his emotional and political stability.
Since Rabin is the dominant figure he must be weakened,
presented as someone who gave in to leftist dictates, a puppet of the Left.
If we succeed, the Left will lose the upcoming elections.
Every time I see his face turn red from the pressure
applied by my small team -
Go ahead. I had my say.
I know we've won.
Friends, all we need are 10 men.
My men disguise themselves as journalists
and get Rabin's schedule from the local councils
where he's appearing.
They organize quickly, as a small, noisy group,
and greet the prime minister with catcalls
wherever he goes.
Bravo. Very good.
True, sometimes Kach and Kahane's activists show up, but we can't control that.
Friends, we're following the rules
of this administration, which has no mandate.
These people know they're being sold out and they won't have it.
We have to rebuild the democracy
since this administration is an insult to the Knesset
and the rule of law.
And it's only the beginning.
We always act through legitimate means
and the message we want to spread through our people is:
Rabin, go home. Rabin, go home!
Hello. Good evening.
Friends, I'd like to cut this discussion short
so we can listen to Dr. Neta
who'll give us a psychological profile of Prime Minister Rabin.
Go ahead, Neta.
- Good evening. - Good evening.
Besides all of your discussions here at the Council,
may God bless you,
and besides all the strategies and tactics,
I want to devote a few words to a character analysis
of our prime minister.
This is a professional opinion
since I'm a clinical psychologist
and for many years now I've treated
all kinds of characters including schizophrenics.
My diagnosis is...
the prime minister...
is schizoid, there's something missing.
A schizophrenic is a person
who loses, to some degree, contact with reality
and lives in an absurd imaginary world of his own making,
out of touch with objective reality.
This kind of person has strange thoughts,
hallucinations,
thoughts with no rational basis.
These people usually find themselves
in psychiatric hospitals.
The schizophrenic...
suffers from detachment.
It's hard for him to understand,
to communicate with others,
and schizophrenics have a proclivity for addictions,
to drugs, to alcohol.
As a clinical psychologist...
I'd recommend very strongly that Yitzhak Rabin receive treatment
and the public should be informed
of the prime minister's sad condition.
- Excuse me. - Yes.
- Pardon me for interrupting. - It's perfectly all right.
But in light of the important things you're bringing up here,
I'd like to know if there are other leaders in the world
who have such severe psychological problems.
Unfortunately, yes.
Certainly there are other leaders like him.
Hitler, curse his name, was schizoid.
And there are still those like him, plenty of them.
I've observed Rabin's personality in the media.
I've studied a lot of documents in order to reach this diagnosis,
and it is precise.
The symptoms speak for themselves.
It's obvious.
The detachment.
The inability to find ways to express himself.
The grasping for words, for concepts.
The repeated tendency to use the term
which, naturally, indicates a certain megalomania.
Certainly.
His contorted facial expressions, his odd gestures...
his uneasiness...
and above all...
his absolute belief in his perverse reality,
the fruit of his imagination...
and the complete loss...
of his ability to judge.
All these symptoms indicate, clearly and incontrovertibly,
that Yitzhak Rabin is a schizoid.
It's unthinkable that we should place our country,
our trust and our leadership in the hands of a man
who suffers this pathological disease!
My God!
We will treat the signing of the Oslo Accords
as occupied France treated collaboration with the Nazis.
I'm so sorry, but...
the facts are unbearable.
It's treason! Listen to me!
- We have to make the point clear. - He's right.
It's treason...
and the day may come
when Rabin is put on trial just as Pétain was,
and from now on the word “traitor” should be attached to Rabin's name.
- Friends, friends - - You're blurring the point.
- It needs to be made clearer. - But he's right.
Friends, we have to be practical.
The people must know that Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres
have joined the Cult of Satan.
- The Cult of Satan. - Friends, it's a fact.
You can't bring that message to the public.
It's a cult that has taken over the government.
Just as the Vichy government.
Mrs. Orot, please call the next witness.
Sit down, please.
Please state your name and ID number.
Name: Noam Kedem. ID number 02 44 06 001.
Address: 86 Sharett Street, Tel Aviv.
Mr. Kedem, it's my duty to warn you that you must say the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
or you may be punished as prescribed by law.
Mr. Kedem, what do you do for a living?
By training I'm an accredited lawyer,
by trade I own 50%
of a certain small business that's just starting out.
I'm also a cofounder of Generation of Peace,
that's short for “A Whole Generation Demands Peace,”
an organization that was founded just after the assassination.
What did you do at the rally?
We were making our way toward the stairs
where we hoped to get a glance of Yitzhak Rabin.
We were thrilled by his courage in continuing the peace process
despite the despicable attacks by the fascist Right.
Please focus on the rally itself.
Do you remember barriers being placed at a certain point?
While we were waiting for Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin,
I was talking with my girlfriend about the very question of security
because what we saw there seemed very odd.
Odd? In what way?
- Can you be more specific? - Certainly.
First of all, when we got there there was no order
and no one in charge.
A uniformed Riot Squad commander was standing there
giving orders to his men: “You stand here, you do this.”
I'm referring to the shoddy measures that end in tragedy.
He stood there greeting his friends who'd just arrived.
“How are you? How's it going?” Chatting with them.
Can you show us exactly where that was?
- Yes, if you have a diagram. - Yes.
Sigal, can you show us the diagram of the square?
We'll bring out a diagram and you can show us exactly.
Go ahead.
Here was the barrier on the stairway.
After that were two or three barriers
that continued to the street leading out of the parking lot.
I was standing -
After they put the barriers in place,
I stood behind the barrier closest to the exit from the parking lot.
I was the last in line
where Shimon Peres came down to shake people's hands.
The last person to shake his hand
before he went behind his Volvo was me.
So you walk around freely.
Yes, we walked around freely, more or less,
and from time to time a policeman said, “Folks, move back.”
It was the same policeman
who later gave orders to the Riot Squad.
Did you see what was happening on the roof?
People stood there freely, and I told my girlfriend
that a sniper would have no problem shooting from there.
It also bothered me that in the City Garden corner
there was only one border patrolman.
Do you really think that I, a simple bystander,
should be giving you all this information?
Don't any of the so-called security forces have any answers?
What's going on here?
Please state your name, ID number and position.
My name is Rafael Yulazri.
I'm a police superintendent, commander of the Ayalon District Riot Squad,
ID number 567 776.
It's my duty to warn you that you must say the truth,
- the whole truth and nothing but the truth - - Yes, sir.
Or you may be punished as prescribed by law.
Please tell us about the rally on November 4.
What was your position then?
I was under the deputy commander of the Yarkon District Riot Squad,
provisory,
on the southwestern corner of the stage.
What time did you arrive?
If my memory serves...
around 4:30.
- 4:30 PM. - Yes.
- I came at 4:30. - 4:30 PM.
And I went straight to the first briefing,
and a half hour or hour later
I was asked to reinforce the City Garden roof.
Reinforce? What do you mean? Was someone there?
No, no one was there. He asked me to place two men there.
I did
and added a few more men including myself.
- Were there people in the parking lot? - Yes.
A lot of people,
plainclothes security agents,
drivers.
Lots of people with food.
People with trays of food going up and down.
And basically,
we sent away everyone who wasn't supposed to be there.
Did you check any of the people in the parking lot?
Not those beyond the barrier.
There was this secret service agent...
who told us to send them away.
So everyone we checked who didn't have authorization,
we got rid of.
Other people came from the west
and the secret service agent pointed out
that people were coming in.
So I sent two men from the Yarkon Riot Squad
over there, and from then on,
almost nobody got in.
I can't say that the place was totally sealed, but I can say -
Please go back to your place.
That everyone the secret agent told us to get rid of -
- Yes, but go back to your place. - we got rid of,
and from then on it was the secret service's responsibility.
Yes, but you relied on his opinion.
Naturally.
But did you, the police, also check people?
You see someone standing there, leaning on a car.
Did anyone go up and ask him, “Who are you?
What are you doing here?”
I want to make it clear
that the job we police did that day -
- Please go back to your place. - Fine.
We police worked very hard that day.
We worked on the barrier. It was war.
- We had to fight - - Let me help you.
We had to fight to keep it together.
Tell me exactly what your assignment was.
To reinforce the troops
so people wouldn't get in from Ibn Gabirol Street,
and that's just what we did.
I wasn't told to make the place airtight.
No, not airtight.
But I'm asking if anyone asked you,
the policemen in charge of the barrier,
did anyone tell you to check who the people in the parking lot were?
I don't want to press the point,
but I personally was never told anything
about making the place sterile!
Okay?
But it was obvious that whoever didn't belong there
should be removed.
Or whoever the secret service agent said was authorized to be there.
I gather from your words that you were at the secret service's disposal.
To do whatever they told us.
From then on, the place was almost completely sealed off.
No one could get in from either the west or the east
unless they were authorized, and we checked them.
Authorized like the assassin, for instance?
No. Not the assassin.
I don't remember him coming in or leaving.
No,
because he was already there.
Excuse me, sir, are you being cynical?
No. He was already there.
He was there.
I beg your pardon, but your cynicism is out of place.
Please continue and stick to the facts.
He was there and you didn't remove him.
That's true, but your cynical implication that -
I beg your pardon. No name-calling.
I'm asking you, he was there
and you didn't remove him.
If you, sir, put it that way,
- I'll answer in kind. - Go ahead.
I don't -
It's possible that he was there.
I don't know.
Mrs. Orot, please sum up the testimony in two sentences.
Superintendent Rafael Yulazri's assignment was to reinforce the troops
in order to prevent people coming in from Ibn Gabirol Street.
The area was not defined as sterile.
He was not told explicitly to remove everyone,
but it was clear that unauthorized people
or those whom the secret service said shouldn't be there
should be removed.
Thank you.
Thank you. Many thanks.
What am I supposed to do?
- How do you feel? - I don't know.
I feel like -
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
How do you feel about it?
Damti, Menachem. ID number 102 714 3.
My job is...
driver for the prime minister.
Are you the only driver? Do you take turns?
The prime minister generally has two drivers.
We decide when to switch.
Please describe your actions until the prime minister arrived.
I went to the car and waited in the car.
As I was waiting in the car,
Shimon Peres, who was foreign minister at the time, came down
and asked me, “When is the prime minister coming?”
I answered, “He'll be here in a few seconds.”
He said, “I'll wait.”
He waited. Then he said, “Well, I'm leaving.”
I stood by the door.
Later the prime minister came down.
I mean, he came down -
He was a foot or two from my door,
and Mrs. Rabin was behind him.
Now, I was about to open the door for Mrs. Rabin,
not for the prime minister,
because the prime minister used the other door.
I saw his wife behind him.
I opened the door.
When the prime minister reached my door,
about...
a foot or two from the door,
and I was standing at an angle...
the assassin came from this direction...
and I heard a bang.
I turned quickly
and saw him shooting
and shouting, “Blanks, blanks.”
Then I got into the car...
and as I got into the car -
I mean, I was in the car,
and the head of security, Yoram, put him in
and said, “Drive.”
Was your blue light flashing?
In the car?
Yes, in the car.
It's always in the car. Yes.
Now, I don't know if it was on.
I got into the car and turned on the siren and sped away.
I don't know if the light was flashing
but I know the siren was on.
I was in no state to play with the buttons so I -
I drove straight to the hospital.
Were you told in advance which route to take
to the hospital in an emergency?
Usually, Your Honor, they always tell me.
For some reason they forgot to.
They didn't give me an escape route.
Who usually tells you?
The commander,
the head of the team and the whole crew,
if it's a big event like that.
What happened at the hospital?
Was he admitted immediately?
No one was expecting me at the hospital.
When I got to the hospital I parked the car at the entrance,
got out quickly.
There was a hospital security guard there,
and I shouted to him hysterically,
“Please bring a stretcher!”
He did so very quickly.
He brought the stretcher,
I took the prime minister by the back,
Yoram took him by the head,
and I asked the policeman to help us from behind.
We put him on the stretcher and ran to the trauma unit.
How long was the drive from Kings Square to the hospital?
I'd estimate...
a minute or a minute and a half,
with the delay, with the policeman and everything.
I'd say it took a minute and a half.
According to the hospital's files
the prime minister arrived at the hospital at 9:55 PM,
that is, eight minutes after the shooting,
500 meters away.
It seemed like a minute and a half to me.
Thank you.
On November 4, 1995,
I was the prime minister's personal bodyguard.
There were seven guards on the team.
All in all there were 20 guards at the incident.
Please speak up.
I was the team leader. I walked next to him.
Into the microphone, please.
There was one man in front,
one in back, theoretically,
and another joined us on the left.
How did you regroup after the rally?
We went down the stairs toward the crowd with the crowd on our right.
I thought the idea was
to shake hands with the crowd through the barrier
when suddenly, out of the blue,
he turned left toward the car.
At that point I was behind the prime minister.
I wasn't next to him.
How far away were you?
About a foot and a half away.
Continue.
When we turn left toward the car
and we were standing at the rear door,
I heard a gunshot from behind and to the left.
I wrapped my arms around the prime minister
and started to pull him down.
I didn't see the gunman.
I realized he misfired or he was overpowered.
But that wasn't my concern. The PM was still alive after the shooting.
Not only was he alive, he helped me up.
And I naively thought that your job was
to protect the prime minister...
even to take a bullet for him,
and certainly to kill the assassin.
Please continue.
At that point we leapt into the car.
In retrospect
I'm surprised that a man his age was able to leap like that.
We leapt into the car with the PM in the backseat
and me between the seats.
His legs stuck out a bit so I pulled in his feet
and told Damti to drive.
At the police station on the night of the assassination,
on November 5...
at 1:07 AM...
you said, “I picked the prime minister up
and pushed him into the car.”
Right?
At Yigal Amir's trial
you gave a different testimony after the shooting.
And I quote.
You said, “I spoke to the prime minister.
I grabbed his shoulders.
I told him, 'You listen to me and only me.”'
You shouted that.
You said, according to our documents,
“'Listen to me and only me.'
I repeated that a number of times.”
I continue to quote you.
“There's a part that I don't remember,
then I found us on top of each other in the car.”
There are many contradictions in your testimony.
I covered him with my arms from the right.
The assassin came from the left.
Do you think the decision to take the prime minister
to the hospital was correct?
I think so.
In that situation the casualty should be evacuated as soon as possible.
What would've happened if they'd used the evacuation corridors
and the route the driver took had been clearer?
I can't answer that.
The fact that the prime minister arrived at the hospital dead
and we managed to restore his heartbeat raises the question:
What would've happened if he'd arrived two minutes earlier?
That question can't be answered.
It's clear that his wound was severe and he wouldn't have survived it,
but no one can answer that question.
Please describe in detail
the wounds that he sustained when he arrived.
A bullet wound next to the spinal column
and a wound to the spinal column.
At that point we couldn't diagnose the wound to the spinal column itself.
Additional wounds from a knife or a regular bullet,
a hole in his back that crushed his spleen and left lung,
passed next to his heart and cut the aorta
which caused bleeding.
That's what usually happens with this kind of wound,
but he didn't -
he didn't die from the bleeding.
The mechanism that caused him to lose consciousness
and his actual death was pneumothorax,
abnormal amount of air in the chest.
When we breathe, air enters our lungs.
Due to the wound
the air entered the space between the lung and the chest
creating pressure, a valve effect.
The more he breathed, the greater the pressure.
A drain was inserted and his heartbeat returned,
but the damage to his brain was irreversible.
Air entered the wound in his aorta
and his heart sent air to the brain instead of blood.
That's a fatal situation.
Thank you.
Please introduce yourself to the commission.
In the service I'm known as Y.S.
The VIP Security Unit.
When did you first hear of the rally?
The head of operations in the VIP Security Unit
contacted me on October 25, 1995,
and decided that I'd be in charge of security at the event,
six days before the assassination.
When did you start to plan for the event?
On October 31, 1995,
a preliminary morning survey was conducted together with the police.
Was there no survey to check field conditions
including lighting intensity in real nighttime conditions?
No.
In your opinion, did the short notice hamper your planning capability?
Yes.
Only four days before the rally
was, in my opinion, too late...
considering the size of the event
and the identity of the dignitaries who attended,
as well as the ability to be involved, to feel out the territory.
If we could go back in time
and give you another two or three weeks,
what would you do?
What would I do differently?
I'd get involved from the beginning,
due to the number of participants
as well as the complexity of the event
and the fact that it covered a broad area
with many points of access.
Did the police give you comments
from the summary of the survey you conducted with them?
No.
You said it was a preliminary survey. Were there other surveys?
No. That's all we managed to do at such short notice.
But you checked the police instructions?
We didn't check
the wording of the police instructions,
but the police were certainly required
to visually screen everyone who entered the area.
That is, spotting suspicious people and preliminary questioning.
If I understand you correctly,
if you wanted to be precise you should've said,
“We asked the police to question suspicious characters.”
That way one would get the impression
that anyone who wanted to pass the barrier,
like the drivers who had to show an authorization by the police,
a policeman should've asked him, “Who are you?
Where are you going?”
Isn't that right?
I didn't ask the police to do that.
Take no responsibility.
I'm sorry, Your Honor, that that's the impression I gave.
Did you ask for something else?
Did you meet with the police again?
Your Honor, our requirements were very clear.
Preliminary questioning and visual screening. It's standard procedure.
Sir, I want to remind you that I was given the assignment
just a few days before the event.
I did everything I could do and should've done
in the given amount of time.
I have no more questions.
It's quite possible that the police didn't do their job properly
and that should be looked into.
Thank you.
The next witness, Mrs. Sara Eliash,
asked to appear before the commission of her own volition.
She's the second witness after Rabbi Benny Elon
to ask to appear of his or her own volition.
I don't see
what this has to do with the commission's mandate
to investigate the operative acts of negligence that led to the PM's murder.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
Please state your name,
ID number and job into the microphone.
Sara Eliash. ID number 10 256 801.
I'm the principal of the girls' school in Kedumim,
Ulpana Lehava.
It's my duty to warn you that you must speak the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth,
or you may be punished as prescribed by law.
Can you tell us why you asked to speak to the commission?
When Avishai Raviv's name appeared in the newspapers,
as a school principal I was shocked
at the thought
that behind a man who incited sedition
among little schoolgirls,
and who knows how that might affect them -
That an official entity stands behind him,
that made me very upset.
I asked the girls
what exactly was said
and it was not the first time.
They knew them well.
Not very well, but they knew them by name.
By your leave I'd like to quote
a few things that were said a little more clearly.
How old are the girls?
They're now in ninth grade.
That means they're about 14.
Not all of them. Some are 14, 15, 16,
who went away for Shabbat -
Not girls. Young women.
You could call them young women.
These young women often went away for Shabbat
by themselves, just for fun.
- When was this? - There were two Shabbats.
The 26th of Nisan,
that's what the girls said,
and the 3rd of Tammuz,
if I'm not mistaken. Yes.
- This was 1995? This year? - Yes. This summer.
May I?
One of the girls told me,
“I went into a room where there were Kach activists.”
Those were her words.
“Avishai Raviv said that a Din Rodef had been passed against the government...
that all the Arabs in Israel should be killed
and that the whole government should be blown up.”
These things were said in Yigal Amir's presence
and in front of college students.
The girls said they tried to argue
and then Avishai Raviv said that the Arabs should be killed
and that soldiers who evacuate settlements
should be shot in the leg.
This girl told me,
“When I heard that I was shocked.”
She tried to tell them that soldiers shouldn't be attacked
and that you can't kill all the Arabs,
some other solution should be found.
Afterwards, of course, we came to the conclusion
that he needs -
I'm referring to Avishai Raviv -
he needs psychological help.
- Excuse me. - Yes.
Mazi, escort her to the archive, please.
What's going on?
You have to go to the archive for a few minutes.
- Okay. Can I leave my purse? - Sure.
- What's the matter? - This is classified information.
The secret service has informed us that they insist
that everything concerning Avishai Raviv remain classified.
I'll bring it to your attention
that the subject of Avishai Raviv should be kept to a minimum.
Platoon 5, follow me!
Please leave this place now.
Hello, sir. How are you?
I'm fine. Leave now, please.
What right do you have to get rid of us?
I want to tell you something.
A higher-ranked officer than you was here.
- A retired general. - Leave or I'll have to use force!
He asked, “What right do you have to be here?”
I said, “God commanded us to!”
You know what? Your son will do army service
on that hill too, because we're going to decide
where this country's borders are!
When did you come up with the idea of shooting the PM?
When the Oslo I Accord was signed.
I realized that the only way to stop the travesty was
to get rid of the prime minister.
There are many ways to do that. I tried them.
But I realized that the only way is
to hurt him so he can't function as prime minister.
And if that can't be done,
if I can't put him out of commission,
then death is the answer.
Doesn't the Bible say “Thou shall not kill”?
There's an agreement - There's a more important commandment.
It's saving a human life.
According to the Torah, if a Jew hands his people
and his country over to the enemy, it's an obligation to kill him.
Can you stop rocking? Sit up straight!
When you kill someone...
in battle, it's a negative act,
but the purpose is lofty.
That's why it's permitted.
“If someone comes to kill you, get up and kill him.”
Who says it's lofty?
You? Do you decide what's lofty and what isn't?
Whether to kill or not to kill?
Do you know -
Do you know what it means to save a human life?
Who brainwashed you, the rabbis?
An entire nation elects someone
and you decide he should be killed?
Not to kill him, to paralyze him politically
so he can't function as prime minister.
Israel has laws, doesn't it?
I don't care about the law. I only care about the Jews.
I want to tell you something about what's “lofty.”
I'm talking about saving a life in hell itself
and I'm talking about my father.
World War Two was hell.
He'd been captured in Germany.
Then he came back to the family.
He escaped and came back...
and he smuggled the whole family over the Russian border.
The Russians told him:
You can have Russian citizenship,
but only you. Not your family.
He passed up the opportunity.
He said no, and he saved lives by doing so.
He took his family and decided to go to Siberia
because the condition was either you go to Siberia or you join us.
He said, “No. I'm going with them.”
He passed up the opportunity and he made a sacrifice.
He served five years in Siberia doing hard labor...
and that's what I call lofty.
He didn't look out for himself.
He did something for the whole family.
- You see? - I made a sacrifice too.
No! You didn't sacrifice anything!
What did you sacrifice?
I sacrificed myself for the sake of the Jews.
Rabin is sacrificing the Jews for the sake of his ideals.
I sacrificed myself for the sake of the Jews.
Did you ask if the Jews want your sacrifice?
How can you be so arrogant?
When you left your house,
did you know where you were going and for what purpose?
When I went to the square
I didn't know I'd kill Rabin.
I figured, if the opportunity comes up -
I stood there and waited.
I waited between them for 50 minutes and nobody said a word.
Between who and who?
Between the police and the bodyguards.
- Between the police and the bodyguards? - Yes.
When I got within range of Rabin,
I saw a space open behind him.
So I turned,
walked around someone and approached from the side.
I couldn't believe I got so close.
I could have touched him.
When I started walking, I intended to shoot him in the head,
but when I saw the space open
I went in and aimed at his back, the seam on his jacket.
Did you shout that they were blanks?
Why would I?
To throw off the security guards.
Interesting idea, but I didn't do that.
Wipe that stinking smile off your face.
Sit up straight!
- Do you regret what you did? - I don't regret a thing.
I did it wholeheartedly.
I did what many have wanted to do,
and it's about time the people woke up.
Do you consider yourself sane?
- I am sane. - Do you think you're normal?
- Completely normal. - Or -
Completely normal.
Do you remember your conversation with Rabbi Tal?
Who told you I spoke to Rabbi Tal?
When did you meet him?
I met him at Baruch Goldstein's funeral.
I went up to him and asked, “What is this?
Rabin's giving everything away and nobody says anything?”
He said, “There's nothing we can do. It's a divine decree.”
I asked, “Isn't he considered Din Rodef?”
He said, “I don't know.
He isn't authorized to make Jewish rulings.”
He said, “I don't know if there is a Din Rodef.”
Then he said, “It's a good deed.”
That's enough for today.
I want to make this clear.
Perhaps it has been overstated
in the media
prematurely
that two major, dramatic subjects are going to be decided on
at the meeting between Mr. Arafat and myself:
the policing of the Jordan Bridge
and a significant enlargement of the Jericho region.
I think that at the beginning
we were coping too much...
not only because of us, maybe mainly because of us,
with symbolic issues.
And the main problem...
of what's going to happen with Gaza -
750,000 Palestinians, economic woes...
building a system which will uphold civilian law and order,
which will also bear responsibility
for the security of this region,
which will prepare for development,
which will, first of all,
replace us as administrators
because as I mentioned,
there are 24,000 paid employees
in Gaza's civil administration.
A week from now, when we leave, who will pay them?
Who is prepared to pay them?
Is there a system that can take on that responsibility?
In the past I was very much against a unilateral withdrawal
and the main reason was
that we would be accused -
That by withdrawing
we would create chaos and killing,
and all sorts of things might happen
if we withdraw from Gaza unilaterally
and there is no entity that can take on the minimum of military responsibility,
and there isn't.
Someone who can take on the minimum of responsibility
for Gaza's immediate essential needs.
If we don't give electricity, Gaza will have no electricity.
If we don't supply water, Gaza will have no water.
If we don't supply their hospitals with oxygen,
I don't know what the hospitals will come to.
If we don't provide medicine and the rupture is too violent -
RABIN IS KILLING ZIONISM
The government's policy
is leading us to destruction.
It's endangering not only the settlers but the people of Ra'anana,
demonstrating here with me,
and they understand that the choice is simple:
either a Palestinian state a few minutes from here,
which is only the beginning,
or autonomy and security, which we offer.
And that's the choice the public will face,
I hope, in the early elections.
Honorable Knesset,
the administration that took office over a year ago
decided to try to put an end to the cycle of war and terrorism...
to try to build a new world in our country,
in our homes, in our families,
which haven't known a year, a month,
when mothers didn't mourn their sons.
We are not blind to the risks
and we will do everything necessary to minimize them.
At the same time, we believe
that the risks are calculated
and they are worth taking.
I call on all Knesset members
to give us a chance to take advantage of this great opportunity.
- Aren't you ashamed of yourself? - No. I'm the son of a Holocaust survivor.
The grandson of four grandparents I never met
because of a Judenräte like this government.
I feel good and safe among the Israeli people,
even if there are negative elements.
I went through enough in my military service
not to be afraid of such things.
There's a backdrop of verbal violence in the streets.
There's -
The verbal violence and the attending mood
lead to noisy rioting
as well as actual violence.
I think the actual violence
is only being perpetrated by the radical fringes.
This is the emblem.
People managed to remove the emblem from the car,
and this emblem symbolizes the fact that just as we got to this emblem
we can get to Rabin.
Mr. Rabin, how does it feel
now that almost all of your contact with the public
takes place under heavy security,
more and more policemen and security guards separating you from the public?
I know that sedition is running rampant, verbal violence,
violence on the Israeli street.
If there's violence in the Knesset, verbal violence,
there is violence in the street, violence on the roads.
I saw the demonstration in Jerusalem
where I appeared in a picture of a Gestapo agent
and I saw a Knesset member, a former Likud minister,
David Levy, driven away by an incited crowd.
I saw the violence in front of the Knesset.
Knesset member and Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu contacted me
before I left for the US for a meeting.
I came home one Friday afternoon
and I saw a demonstration.
Likud signs, people shouting, “Traitor! Murderer!”
I said it would be foolish of me...
to play the Likud chairman's hypocritical game.
He sat there and spoke in front of pictures of the Gestapo.
He suggests that we meet, and he holds demonstrations.
- Won't you try to stop the radicals? - I don't trust him.
- It'll get worse until the elections. - That's possible,
if the Likud decides to.
- We aren't creating the violence. - You're the prime minister.
I can't use coercion except as the law allows.
If the prime minister is here I'll ask him to come in.
I'm personally asking the prime minister to come in.
I'm asking him to come in.
I'm personally asking the prime minister to come in.
No. Don't do this to me!
Look what you're doing, you're carrying on -
what you did outside.
These are the results. Pardon me, sir.
If he can talk, can't I?
Certainly. Absolutely. Please do, Mr. Prime Minister.
I wish you would.
No. And we'll conclude with this.
Sir, he's the prime minister and he'll say whatever he wants.
Excuse me.
I'm not asking -
Don't interrupt the prime minister.
I'm not asking to speak from the podium.
The phenomenon of incitement...
under the heading of “preventing a national schism”...
is nothing new.
- It has existed - - Don't interrupt. We didn't interrupt you.
- Has existed - - Don't interrupt!
- But you also did - - Excuse me, Deputy Alon,
don't interrupt the prime minister. Look what you're doing.
You're repeating a syndrome that manifests outside later.
You don't let him speak here and that's how it starts.
- This isn't - - Let him speak!
- This is nothing new. - Let him speak like you let Netanyahu!
- This is nothing new. - Let him speak!
- I repeat. - Have a little respect.
This is not a new phenomenon.
It's now disguised
as national unity,
and in the guise of national unity
people use expressions that only lead to schism
and I suggest you stop the hypocrisy.
WE LIVE UNDER A BLOODY ADMINISTRATION
WHO'S NEXT IN LINE?
RABIN, ARE YOU NEXT IN LINE?
People who put Jewish lives in danger,
according to Jewish law, their lives are forfeit.
He shot at Jews in the <i<Altalena incident. Rabin himself.
He'll get shot in the head by a Jew.
If you'd asked him that morning...
that Saturday,
if he considered the possibility that he could be harmed,
the answer would be no. Never.
He was unworried and confident
and he certainly wouldn't agree to wear a bulletproof vest.
He was absolutely confident
in terms of his personal safety.
And I have to admit that I was too.
I trusted the people guarding him
and it never occurred to me in my wildest dreams
that such a thing could happen,
that such a thing would happen.
Although there were warning signs here and there...
it didn't occur to us and we refused to consider it.
We didn't believe such a thing was possible,
that the most insane, cruel,
incomprehensible thing could actually happen.
That's why I'm angry, if I'm angry at all -
and I do put thought and effort into it -
at the school of thought that produced this negative element...
and preached such things
and the political group
that called Yitzhak “murderer”
for so long.
“Murderer” and “traitor,”
saying that he didn't know where he was leading the people.
And that's how they led the way...
in such a way that it produced the element
that could understand things that way,
that if he really was a murderer and a traitor
who was selling Israeli land,
then Israeli land is more sacred than this man's life
and it's a commandment to murder him.
I can't even get angry.
There's no anger in me.
It's beyond me.
I can't get angry. I can only feel sorrow.
“This committee, which it was my honor to lead,
was not appointed to investigate the factors
that led to the social and political culture that led to the assassination.
It was not asked to offer its opinion
on the circumstances that led to the assassination.
That is not the role of an investigative committee.
The committee was restricted by law
to examining the functioning of the people and the systems
responsible for the prime minister's safety.
This report does not exempt Israeli society
from its obligation to conduct a thorough investigation...
and to try to answer the question
of how we reached the point
of the assassination of an Israeli PM by an extremist...
and how violence turned into a means of solving political conflicts.
This investigation should be conducted by society as a whole
and the educational institutions in particular.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel,
its strength has lain in the essential balance between fostering its power
and the moral restrictions it took on.
Israel's pride as the only democracy
in the Middle East lay, among other things,
in the fact that negative phenomena such as political murder
do not exist in its social and political culture.
Three gunshots on November 4, 1995,
totally changed these axioms.
Israel after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,
may he rest in peace,
will never be the same.”