Rabin’s assassin requests prison furlough to attend son’s bar mitzvah
Israel Prisons Service rejects bid by Yigal Amir, who hasn’t been granted furlough since murdering PM in 1995; service believes court will also block move
The jailed assassin of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Yigal Amir, has filed a request for a prison furlough for his son’s bar mitzvah, Hebrew-language media reported Monday.
The request was rejected by the Israel Prisons Service, but will be discussed in court later this week.
The development came as Israel officially marked 25 years since the assassination. Amir shot Rabin to death at the end of a rally in Tel Aviv called to highlight opposition to violence and to showcase public support for his efforts to make peace with the Palestinians.
Amir and his wife, Larissa Trimbobler-Amir, conceived their son in his prison cell in 2007. Amir, who is serving a life sentence, filed a similar furlough request at the time to witness his son’s birth, but it was rejected by a court. The baby’s brit mila ritual circumcision was held on November 4, the 12th anniversary of the 1995 murder.
In 25 years, he has never been granted a furlough from prison.
Now, 13 years after his son was born, Amir’s request will be discussed in court on Wednesday. The Walla news site quoted sources in the Israel Prisons Service as saying they expect the court to reject the request.
Yesh Atid-Telem MK Yoel Razvozov urged the court to reject the “insolent” request, alleging that Amir has received privileges he doesn’t deserve and should have been “deprived of all rights and thrown into solitary confinement until his death.”
The Shin Bet security service has assessed that a quarter of a century after killing Rabin, Amir is still a threat to national security since he has followers outside prison who pose a danger, according to a report last week by Channel 13.
“Recently, youths identified with the right have mobilized and become a community outside the prison that supports Amir and his actions and is willing to act on his behalf,” the Shin Bet assessment reportedly found. “All this points to the danger posed by the ties between the murderer and entities outside the prison.”
The Shin Bet is concerned that Amir, who has never expressed regret at what he did and remains convinced that he was justified in his actions, may try to direct the group from within the prison, the report said.
Channel 13 did not say when the Shin Bet assessment was made.
Amir has been seeking ways to have himself set free from prison by way of political support.
During Israel’s recent run of three consecutive elections within a year and half, his wife formed the Mishpat Tzedek (Fair Trial) party, which called for a retrial for the convicted killer and “all other innocent people unjustly incarcerated.”
In October 2019, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Amir to lift prison restrictions imposed after he used his phone for political purposes.
Amir was denied phone calls, family visits, conjugal visits, newspapers and access to electrical appliances at the time, as a result of his attempts to shore up political support.
Amir has been alone in his cell for years, but normally has access to television and other privileges.
He was sentenced by the prison’s commander to seven days in solitary confinement in a cell with only basic amenities after he made a call to Yoav Eliasi, a rapper and far-right activist known as “The Shadow.” Amir asked Eliasi to help fight for his release. The rapper rejected his request.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the shooting, the Yitzhak Rabin Center on Thursday lit 25,000 candles in the square where Rabin was assassinated and which is now named for him.
The exhibit built on the Jewish tradition of lighting a candle in memory of a loved one on the anniversary of their death, as well as on memories of the many candles that were lit by teenagers and young Israelis in the days that followed the murder.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.