Yigal Amir's Problem

Two years after the murder of Yitzhak Rabin, the assassin, cosily ensconced in his cell, sifts through marriage proposals and is at a loss to choose. In Kiryat Arba, thousands of Jews prostrate themselves upon the grave of their new icon of righteousness, Baruch Goldstein. In Tel-Aviv, security officers fix a red dot on each forehead. Were he alive today, Rabin would be murdered first thing tomorrow morning.

Discovery

Two years after the murder of Rabin, GSS agent Avishai Raviv finally reveals the real reason for the Prime Minister's being killed. The murderer, Yigal Amir, wasn't having any luck with girls, out there in the Territories. Some radical action was called for. A "manly" act. So how can prime ministerial murders be avoided in future, "Mr. Champage"?" "Girls must be found for all the fellows".

Romance"

Two years after the murder of Rabin, Yigal Amir is deluged with feminine fan-mail and marriage proposals. So what if he is serving a life term? These potential mates are long on patience. Meanwhile, they write him letters and bake him cakes. That's for now. A pardon, after all, is inevitably on its way.

Education

Two years after the murder of Rabin, fathers and children make the pilgrimage to the beautifully tended grave of Hebron physician Baruch Goldstein. Here, the fathers tell their sons and daughters, lies a great Jew. A most distinguished Jew, who fell for the sanctification of the Name. In Israel of late 1997, there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Jews who have nothing but admiration for the man who shot more than forty Arabs in the back, as they prayed to Allah. Baruch Goldstein's grave has become a legitimate way station on the endless round of the resting places of the righteous, relentlessly pursued by a large part of this nation.

Mutual understanding

Two years after the murder of Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu finds some inflammatory remarks to make about the left, whispering them into the ear of Rabbi Kadouri, high priest of religious talismans. Kadouri nods his smiling acknowledgement. A positive idyll.

Intent

Two years after the murder of Yitzhak Rabin, entire roads must be closed off whenever Netanyahu arrives for a visit to the Tel-Aviv Municipality. Snipers on the roof keep telescopic sights fixed on the mid-point of the foreheads of passers-by. Israel boasts 45,000 citizens perfectly prepared, under certain circumstances, to murder a prime minister. Plus hundreds of security officers, fully prepared to kill any one of them at a moment's notice. All that remains for the rest of the five million is to put up and shut up. How many tears can one weep over a red dot on the forehead?

Regret

Two years after the murder of Rabin, a survey has appeared, indicating that 53% of Israeli citizens believe a prime minister could be murdered here again. 31% of them are not ashamed to say that the act perpetrated by Yigal Amir on November 4, 1995, actually had some satisfactory results. Were he alive today, Rabin would be murdered first thing tomorrow morning.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018