Would Rabin have stopped the 'peace process'?
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
Twenty years ago tonight was one of those moments that you always remember where you were when you heard about it. Twenty years ago tonight, then-Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated at the end of a 'peace rally' in Tel Aviv. (For the record, I was in our apartment on the computer and Mrs. Carl had gone with a couple of the kids to the mall - I think I had the two then-youngest kids at home).
I have written
many times before about the assassination and why I believe that the person sitting in jail for doing it
did not receive a fair trial. But perhaps the more significant question is whether Rabin would have continued the 'peace process' had he lived. Jeff Jacoby argues that Rabin would have
brought that process to an end after the 1996 elections (Hat Tip:
Martin Kramer).
Oslo was a disaster from the outset, arguably the worst
self-inflicted wound in Israel’s history. By 1995, it was widely
regarded as a failure by Israelis; polls showed public approval of Rabin
and his Labor Party sinking to record lows.
Oslo’s architects had promised that empowering Yasser Arafat and the
Palestine Liberation Organization with their own quasi-state in Gaza and
the West Bank was the best way to suppress terror attacks and improve
Israel’s security. Rabin’s government took the gamble, but the “peace
process” didn’t deliver peace. It delivered bus bombings and suicide
attacks.
More Israelis were killed by Palestinian terrorists in the 24
months following the famous handshake on the White House lawn than in
any similar period in Israel’s history.
In public, Rabin professed
to be undaunted, repeatedly insisting that the engagement with Arafat
must proceed: “We have to fight terror as if there were no peace talks,
and we have to pursue peace as if there were no terror.”
But privately, Rabin was having grave doubts.
According to Efraim Inbar, head of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University and the author of “Rabin and Israel’s National Security,”
Rabin was no starry-eyed peacenik. He was a pragmatic leader for whom
peace, in and of itself, was never a core value. The Oslo concessions
could be justified only to the extent that they left Israel more secure.
As it became apparent that instead of land for peace, Israel had
exchanged land for terror, incitement, and hatred, Inbar said Wednesday in a lecture at Boston University, there is good reason to believe he would have pulled the plug.
Others have said the same thing. Dalia Rabin, the prime minister’s daughter (and a former deputy defense minister), recalled in 2010
that she had been told by many of her father’s confidants “that on the
eve of the murder he considered stopping the Oslo process because of the
terror that was running rampant in the streets, and because he felt
that Yasser Arafat was not delivering on his promises.” And Moshe
Ya’alon, who in 1995 was Israel’s chief of military intelligence, was
told by Rabin that he intended to “set things straight” with Oslo after
the 1996 election, since Arafat’s commitments were plainly worthless.
Would
he have done so? Of course we cannot know for sure, but as Inbar notes,
Rabin did believe that Oslo was reversible. When critics expressed
alarm at an agreement committing Israel to arm a Palestinian police
force, he replied that there was nothing to fear.
“There is no danger that these guns will be used against us,” Rabin
said. “The purpose of this ammunition for the Palestinian police is to .
. . fight against Hamas. They won’t dream of using it against us, since
they know very well that if they use these guns against us once, at
that moment the Oslo Accord will be annulled.”
But he waited too long.
Rabin was never a willing participant in Oslo. Shimon Peres sent Yossi Beilin, Ron Pundak and Uri Savir to Oslo to negotiate with the PLO behind Rabin's back. Presented with the fait accomplis, Rabin went along. I think he would have dropped it in a minute.
Labels: Ron Pundak, Shimon Peres, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin, Yossi Beilin
Buzi Herzog has lived through everything and learned nothing
Israel's Left has spent nearly 20 years turning
purported Rabin assassin Yigal Amir into the national bogeyman, while accusing the Right - and particularly Binyamin Netanyahu - of
inciting the Rabin
assassination. Now, the Left is trying to incite the assassination of Naftali Bennett - who is not as pliable as Binyamin Netanyahu - by putting up posters like the one above which claims that Yigal Amir (who is not allowed to vote) has told his family to vote for Bennett.
Bennett has
called Labor party leader Buzi Herzog on the ad (link in Hebrew).
What could go wrong?
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, incitement, Knesset elections 2015, Naftali Bennett, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Herzog, Yitzchak Rabin
Cabinet passes law aimed at stopping terrorist releases
Israel's Ministerial Legislation Committee has approved a bill to be presented by the coalition, which would pass a 'basic law' (allegedly cannot be overridden by the Supreme Court) that would
bar the premature release of 'Palestinian' terrorists.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said "the State of Israel is opening a
new page in the war against terror and its moral commitment to bereaved
families.
"Years of blackmail and wholesale release will stop when this bill
becomes law," Bennett added.
"The Bayit Yehudi will work in the upcoming
[Knesset] session to pass the law without delay."
Seven ministers, from Likud Beytenu and Bayit Yehudi, voted in favor and three Yesh Atid and Hatnua ministers opposed.
The proposed legislature
aims to allow the courts to use the heavy sentence, which blocks the
president’s ability to pardon criminals in special cases like terrorist
attacks, murder with nationalist motivations, or murder of children.
...
The bill was proposed by Bayit Yehudi faction chairwoman Ayelet
Shaked and MK David Tsur (Hatnua) and co-sponsored by coalition chairman
Yariv Levin (Likud Beytenu), MKs Robert Ilatov (Likud Beytenu), Orit
Struck (Bayit Yehudi), Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Bayit Yehudi), Motti Yogev
(Bayit Yehudi) and Yisrael Hasson (Kadima).
Ilatov pointed out
that similar sentences exist in the US and that the bill, should it
become law, will not discriminate by religion, ethnicity or gender of
the murderer.
"The goal is to have more severe sentences, without
having the death penalty," he explained. "Whoever deprives the whole
world [by killing a person] will pay by losing his freedom."
The legislation is an amendment to Basic Law: The Presidency, which currently says the president may pardon any criminal.
If the change becomes law, it will allow judges to use their discretion
on whether a murder is a “special case” or not, meaning there is a
possibility that law may never be put to use even if it is passed.
I'm almost surprised that the Left didn't vote in favor. This law sounds like it could be used to prevent the release of alleged Rabin assassin Yigal Amir.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Ayelet Shaked, constitution, Naftali Bennett, Palestinian terrorists, Supreme Court, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin
Yadlin: Rabin would have lost the '96 elections
I will never forget the morning after the 1996 elections. The Leftists - which was most of my government office at the time - were walking around crying because Binyamin Netanyahu had beaten Shimon Peres in an election six months after Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated. I and the two other rightists in the office kept to ourselves to avoid being ostracized.
Now former military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin says that had he not been assassinated,
Rabin would have lost that election anyway.
Today's edition of Yediot Ahronot features a "what if" article asking
various Israelis to speculate how things would be different today if various
events had not taken place.
Question: What would have happened if Rabin hadn't been murdered?
Yadlin: He would have lost the elections in any event to Binyamin Netanyahu
in '96. The public atmosphere in the country was that the Oslo process
failed, the terror attacks of Jihad and Hamas were unacceptable and Rabin
himself would have reconsidered Oslo. I have no doubt that he lost his
trust, if he even had it, in Yasser Arafat.
Question: And the claims that we would be after Oslo today, with two states
for two peoples?
Yadlin: That has no basis in reality.
But don't expect the Left to acknowledge this or to retry Yigal Amir - who was
convicted by a
lynch mob mentality of the assassination.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Middle East peace process, Oslo accords, Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin
Your TV tax at work: Channel 1's truly offensive promotional video
In an earlier post, I reported on a
truly offensive promotional video, which was broadcast on Channel 1 (government television) to promote an anti-Right satire. In the video, Yigal Amir, Baruch Goldstein and Yona Avrushmi are seen dancing around celebrating.
Here's the video - Hebrew only.
Let's go to the videotape.
Labels: Baruch Goldstein, Israeli television, Machpeila cave, Peace Now, satire, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin
The media's double standard
I sent an email on Friday to Shomron Regional Council spokesman David HaIvri (pictured), asking whether the reports regarding the
protests against the presence of Hagai Amir in Shavei Shomron for the Sabbath were true, or whether they were exaggerated. He said that they were exaggerated. He also sent me these comments about Amir's release,
which were originally written to someone else.
I think that the media in Israel allows its people to present a twisted outlook on life to aro[u]se popularity, I guess you might call this yellow journalism. If anyone like me dare say on Israel's radio what you said here, the entire media community with have a festival twisting my words and making me into a monster. I am actually still reminded of things I said on the matter 16.5 years ago. On the other hand, Israel just recently released from prison hundreds of terrorists who killed and maimed thousands of Israeli's. The Israeli media in that case presented a 180 [degree] about-face view as to say that there could be nothing more normal and accepted then to do that, and if someone like myself would have challenged that on the media again they would have had a festival at his expense making him into a heartless weirdo.
BTW - the "special treatment" given to the Amir brothers in Israel's punishment system is far from equality under the law, which would be expected in a free and western society. Yes, they were convicted [of] murdering a very important person in Israel. But, the same law applies to any other person in Israel. The punishment should not be so drastically different from someone who murdered anyone else. 16.5 [years] in solitary confinement is a very extreme (even inhuman) level of punishment that was inflicted on them solely as an additional means of punishment because of the victim in [this] case. The media as a watchdog for democracy, human rights and freedom should have been the first to question these procedures and they did in the case of Adnan Khdar. But, they operate with a double standard.
Indeed.
Labels: David HaIvri, mainstream media, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin
Shavei Shomron unhappy with its Shabbat guest
On Thursday, it was announced that Hagai Amir, the brother of Rabin assassin Yigal Amir, who was released from prison on Friday morning, would spend the Sabbath at an unnamed Jewish community in Samaria. Of course, it was inevitable that the identity of the community would get out, and now the residents of Shavei Shomron are out
protesting against their Sabbath guest.
Residents hung signs around the town against Amir's visit, reading, "thou shall not kill," and "murder is not our way." A resident of the community expressed disapproval of Amir's intention to visit the settlement, saying "we dissociate ourselves entirely from this visit and of course we completely dissociate ourselves from anything linked to Rabin's murder," Channel Ten reported.
"This is a completely private visit that people do not view favorably. We have no way to prevent it, but we are not pleased about it," he added.
Channel Ten quoted another resident as saying, "we would willingly pass on this visitor. This man is not welcome in this town, and would do well not to be here."
The Shavei Shomron residents were among many others bristling at Amir's release on Friday. Meretz activists and other demonstrators waited outside the prison gate in protest of his release. They held signs saying "price tag 4.11.95" and called to Amir and his family, "we won't forget and we won't forgive those who incited and murdered."
Anyone in Shavei Shomron is especially asked to comment.
Labels: Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin
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
Yigal Amir to stay in isolation, but be allowed to pray with a minyan
The Supreme Court has ruled that convicted Rabin assassin Yigal Amir must remain in isolation, but will be allowed to interact with other inmates under supervision to
pray with a minyan (quorum) of ten men.
The decision upheld a Petah Tikva District Court ruling that Amir should remain in solitary confinement for an additional six months. In upholding the lower court's decision, however, the Supreme Court noted that in the future, Amir should be allowed short visits with other prisoners, to hold a prayer minyan, among other reasons.
However, the judges wrote that if Amir abuses such privileges "despite promises and liabilities, ...it will be permissible to terminate [the privileges] immediately."
I outlined my positions about the restrictions on Amir
here.
Labels: minyan, solitary confinement, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin
Physicians for Human Rights calls for Amir's release from isolation
I never thought I would see the day that I would agree with something that Physicians for Human Rights had to say about Israel. That day has come. Physicians for Human Rights has called for the release of
Yigal Amir from the isolation he has suffered for the last fifteen years. I could not agree more.
"Psychological damage caused by isolation will manifest in a number of ways," a Physicians for Human Rights statement said, "including difficulty sleeping, depression, irrational fears, psychotic episodes such as visual and auditory hallucinations, episodes of paranoia, the experience of distortions in time and space, confusion and cognitive difficulties."
The organization rejected the state's claims that Amir must remain in isolation because his life would be in danger if he was kept in contact with other prisoners in the general prison population.
"Physicians for Human Rights calls upon representatives of the state to study other ways of dealing with the prisoner that will protect his person and his health. The state's solutions must negatively affect as little as possible the physical and psychological health of prisoners, including Yigal Amir," the organization said.
The excuse for keeping Amir in isolation is just that. The real reason the State wants to keep him in isolation is vengeance for the murder of 'peace.' And a fear that if he were not in isolation, he might retain his sanity and start telling the truth.
If you're wondering how the yefei ha'nefesh are taking this, here's
Haaretz. (For starters, while JPost's headline referred to Yigal Amir, Haaretz's referred to 'Rabin's assassin').
The far-right Orthodox Amir pleaded guilty to killing Rabin, as he had opposed the prime minister's efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.
PHR said that the Israel Prison Service, which has systematically opposed ending Amir's solitary confinement, is aware of the ramifications for a person's mental state caused by this treatment.
It noted that following its appeal with the Israeli human rights organization the Center for the Defense of the Individual, a joint panel from the Prison Service and the Defense Ministry wrote in 1996 that solitary confinement had deep psychological impact.
...
Arguing for Amir to remain in isolation, the state claims that Amir could incite other prisoners, and that entering the prison population would constitute a threat on his life.
There's a Supreme Court hearing on Amir's request to leave his isolation on Monday. Israel Radio reports that the State said it would release Amir from isolation if it could find an appropriate cell mate (how about his brother?). Amir said he had unfettered access to a phone for the first nine years that he was in prison and never incited anyone.
If I haven't made it clear enough in the past, there are videos showing Amir shooting Rabin (which I have posted), but what you see in the videos is contradicted by the hospital report. I believe that any decent criminal lawyer could have at least gotten Amir off on a reduced charge. But no such lawyer would agree to take his case at the time.
Given what the Left did to
Margalit Har Shefi just a few weeks ago, I would bet on them fighting tooth and nail to keep Amir in isolation. You can bet that they will claim that there is no appropriate cell mate - among other things.
Labels: Margalit Har Shefi, Physicians for Human Rights, Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin
