Israel Matzav

Rabin assassin's brother released from prison

Hagai Amir has been released from jail after serving a 16.5 year sentence for conspiring with his brother Yigal to assassinate Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin (the linked article talks about the release prospectively - I just heard the live event on the radio). Hagai served his entire sentence. Yigal remains in jail serving a life term. Both Amir brothers have spent most of their time in prison in isolation.

In 2006, [Hagai] was sentenced to an extra year in prison for threats made against the life of former prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Amir was supposed to be released a few months earlier because of prison overcrowding, but due to the Gilad Schalit prisoner release, there was no longer a need to afford him early release.

Now 43 years old, the Herzliya native has never expressed remorse for his role in the assassination.

His brother Yigal remains in solitary confinement serving a life imprisonment for killing Rabin.

Contacted by The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said they would not comment on whether or not they still consider Amir a threat to the public or if they will perform surveillance on him after his release.

Rabin’s granddaughter Noa Rothman (nee Ben-Artzi) posted a message on her Facebook page on Thursday that read “Hagai Amir will be released tomorrow from prison. This is how it is in a democracy, I know, but what can you do? The heart is irrational. The heart burns, especially on a day like this... Because 16 and a half years have gone by and it’s just as painful and insulting like it was yesterday.”

Elsewhere, in an interview with Israel Radio on Thursday, Kadima MK and former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter said that Hagai’s brother Yigal should have been executed for killing Rabin.

I wonder whether Dichter also favors executing 'Palestinian' terrorists who murdered Jews. I doubt it.

There were several Left 'activists' outside the prison this morning. As Amir was hustled into a waiting car, one moronic reporter asked him whether he would do it (presumably meaning assassinate a Prime Minister) again. I don't think he got an answer (Israel Radio kept insisting that Amir said he had no regrets - I heard the whole thing live and did not hear him say that or anything else).

On the other hand, Noa Rothman's sentiments are entirely understandable and rational.

As long time readers know, I have expressed doubts in the past as to the evidence used to convict Yigal Amir. The left is obsessed with him because they blame him for 'murdering peace.'

Labels: Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:37 AM