Yigal Amir was convicted today (Wednesday) at the Tel-
Aviv District Court, of murdering Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin and of inflicting injury on security guard Yoram
Rubin, under aggravating circumstances. The court handed
down a sentence of life imprisonment on the first count,
and an additional six years on the second.
A panel of judges headed by Justice Edmund Levi ruled
in this connection that Amir had stated that he had
acted in accordance with the "law of the pursuer", and
that "the attempt to endow the murder of Yitzhak Rabin
with a seal of legitimacy constitutes brashly cynical
use of the Jewish halakha (oral law).
The court rejected defence pleas as to Amir's mental
state and the plea alleging that someone else had shot
the Prime Minister. The judges ruled that the notion
that the Israeli prime minister should be subject to the
"law of the pursuer" is such warped thinking as to cause
one to shudder. "Israel is governed by democratic
procedures, such as Knesset votes of non-confidence and
also elections, but the Accused appears to have been in a
hurry", said the judges.
As regards the plea that Amir had not intended to
murder the prime minister, but merely to paralyse him,
the judges ruled that even if the plea whereby he had not
intended to commit murder were to be admitted, the
possibility of his not being convicted of murder appears
doubtful.
Reading from a prepared statement, Amir said: "I know
I have caused damage to myself and my family. Whatever I
did, I did for the sake of Israel, the Torah of Israel
(Jewish religious law), the people of Israel (the Jewish
people) and the Land of Israel. This is a bond that will
never be dissolved and whoever attempts, or has
attempted to sever it, will not prevail. For Israel is
not alone. I resolved to do the deed and to take the
consequences".
"Leaders who kill many people emerge blameless,
whereas I have no system to protect me. What was done
here (in the trial) was done with all due ceremonial
trappings. No in-depth discussion took place as regards
the existential problem of the State of Israel, this
subject was not related to at all. This was a public
show trial from start to finish. Lord help me".
Following these remarks, Judge Edmund Levi said he was
so very proud to live in a State (such as Israel) in
which an accused of Amir's type could say such things
freely, and that this was a state worth living in.
"Together with the assassin, Yigal Amir, who was in
effect the pistol that shot the prime minister, judgement
was passed on tens and thousands of others". This was
the comment of Shimon Sheves, former director general of
the prime minister's office, on the verdict convicting
Yigal Amir of the murder of the prime minister and the
injuring of his security guard.
Sheves added that it was impossible to forget the
incitement and the dreadful atmosphere that pervaded the
State of Israel on the eve of the prime minister's
murder