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The Rabin Assassination, the appointment of Gillon, and the pardon of Har Shefi: Israel in Darkness

In the July 24 Jerusalem Post, almost the entire editorial page was dedicated to President Katsav's pardon of Margalit Har-Shefi. The following day Ha'aretz featured its own op ed on the subject. All of this was after a barrage of coverage the previous week. What in the world does this have to do with the flack over Carmi Gillon's appointment as Israel's ambassador to Denmark? Who really knows, but we might suggest a starting place for the real questions.

[1] Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his bitter political rival Shimon Peres join forces to go to Oslo in 1993, and on their way home (so to speak) they collect the Nobel Peace Prize with Yasir Arafat. Peres is known as the intellectual architect of the peace process and Rabin the strategic master.

[2] Peres is known as one of the most powerful politicians in Israel's history, hand-picked by Ben Gurion, who couldn't win an election even against himself. Rabin controlled Labor politics.

[3] Peres believes that history is no guide to human behavior and that he and other like-minded socialists can actually will the Middle East into a peaceful co-existence, what he called in his book by the same title, "the New Middle East." Citing elevator sound bites like the "technological revolution," the "communication age," and "the global village," Peres gives speeches and writes that he is convinced that the peace process is an inevitable salvation for the people of the region and any one who opposes it is fighting an evolutionary process that cannot be stopped.

[4] Rabin publicly ridicules Peres' ideological bent and argues that the peace process is a strategic move forced on an Israel with no alternatives. Rabin is constantly fighting with Peres: Peres moving the process at break-neck speed as Rabin's foreign minister and globetrotter and Rabin very much the general trying to marshal forces, keep his coalition together and survive the angry protests calling for his ouster.

[5] In November 1995 as Jews are being slaughtered relentlessly by Arab terrorists, protests against Rabin's policy take on a very personal character. Rabin, who authorized the transfer of weapons to the PA for their "police force," is viewed as literally giving the enemy weapons to kill Jews. Rabin retorts to such accusations that the minute the PA uses the weapons against an Israeli the army would go into the PA territory and dismantle it. Protestors don't believe him since he has refused to do so as Palestinians infiltrate into Israel with bombs -- blowing up busses and marketplaces, and of course, creating in Rabin's words, "sacrifices for peace."

[6] On November 4, Rabin is assassinated by Yigal Amir, a member of the religious Zionist camp. He believes Rabin a traitor and deserving of death and that he was fulfilling the biblical command to take the law into one's own hands to be zealous in the case of an immediate threat to Jewish lives.

[11] Later, during a One Israel (Labor) government headed up by Barak, Peres even loses a presidential race (voted upon by members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, which his party controlled, against a politically meek opposition candidate from Likud, Moshe Katsav. Peres has cemented his reputation as the most unelectable power politician in Israel's history.

[13] Carmi Gillon was the head of the Shin-Bet, Israel's CIA/FBI during the period preceding the Rabin assassination and the period of the assassination itself. After the assassination Gillon is highly criticized for the poor security and protection given Rabin. Questions begin to be asked that intimate dark and sinister relationships.

[14 ] It is uncovered that a Shin-Bet operative, Avishai Raviv, who operated as an agent provocateur, promoting Jewish undergrounds and revenge attacks, and who posed in the media as a right ring Jewish militant, had intimate knowledge of Yigal Amir's plans for assassinating Rabin well in advance of November 4. At the moment the information is to be broadcast publicly, the highest legal officers of the state, the attorney general and the state prosecutor, stamp the information top secret. The information is leaked over the Internet but it remains top secret in Israel. The question has yet to be answered: how much did Gillon know about his operative's involvement with Amir leading up to the assassination and how much of the events leading right up to the assassination were yet another attempt to discredit the political right and silence their opposition to Oslo?

[15] Other questions have been raised. Questions so dark and sinister as to frighten even the most hardened Israeli. Why was Rabin so unprotected? When did Peres learn of the assasination? Was this whole thing an operation out of control or one very much in control? These questions continue to be asked.

[16] A young, attractive religious women barely out of her teens, had been courted by Amir for some time. Amir told her of his plans to kill Rabin because he was killing Jews by betraying the Jewish state. Margalit Har-Shefi dismisses Amir, but at one point, does in fact ask a local rabbi if such a thing would be acceptable under Jewish law and would she be required to report such a thing in advance. The rabbi answered no to both questions. Har-Shefi goes on with her life. Amir kills the Prime Minister.

[17] Soon thereafter after a national witch hunt for anyone who said or heard anything derogatory about Rabin, Har-Shefi is charged with the crime of "knowing" or "having reasonable belief" that such a crime was to take place and not informing the police. In other words, Har-Shefi's very soul is investigated and found guilty of having a belief notwithstanding the fact that she insisted that she never believed that Amir would actually carry out such a heinous crime. Nine months in prison. The left is outraged over the short sentence, but is happy the state has penetrated her heart so profoundly to root out this evil. Nine months.

[18] The political left hails the legal system's ability to penetrate a person's mind. The political right is still stunned by the accusations that it participated in the assassination via incitement and silence and little is said in Har-Shefi's defense.

[19] Avishai Raviv, the Shin-Bet's agent, becomes a focus of attention. How is it that Har-Shefi is charged, tried and convicted before Avishai Raviv, who is suspected by everyone of at the very least knowing of Amir's plans, if not actually promoting it. Forces seemed to be at work to keep Raviv under wraps.

[20 ] Finally charged after public pressure from the right and certain respected politicians like Micki Eitan, Raviv's trial is postponed several times. No evidence has yet to be taken. No one has a clue when the process might begin. Silence continues.

[22] In the aftermath of the Rabin assassination, Gillon resigns as head of the Shin-Bet. He is severely criticized for the lax security arrangements to protect Rabin in light of the real and perceived threat from Arab terrorists and the Jewish underground elements.

[24] After Barak's failed attempt to give the Palestinians 90% of their demands at Camp David II, Likud's Ariel Sharon wins the premiership in a landslide victory. Barak is humiliated and announces that he is leaving One Israel (Labor) leadership and politics. Peres takes advantage of the vacuum and supports a unity government with Sharon. The deal is made and Peres becomes the number two man in charge of the foreign ministry again.

[25] Peres promotes his man Gillon to be Israel's ambassador to Denmark. Gillon is reported to have said that sometimes mild torture is necessary when dealing with terrorists to extract life saving information. The Danes erupt. The Danish justice minister is reported to have said that Gillon will be arrested if he reports to his post in Denmark.