Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel (38 page)

If I had any reason to doubt it, Hagai’s Facebook page seemed to bear it out. He created it soon after his release to post his own political observations and advocate on his brother’s behalf. In a typical comment on his wall, one supporter wrote soon after Hagai came online: “We’re all with you, Hagai Amir. We hope your brother will be freed soon.” Another wrote: “The drinks will be on me.” Within a few months, he had more than six hundred friends.

Hagai did not come to regret the murder during his years in prison. But his sharp hostility toward Arabs seemed to have softened and been redirected, chiefly toward the Israeli establishment—the government, the courts, the prison authority, the security agencies, and even the military. It made for some surprising conversations. In one of them, Hagai said Israel had a habit of launching unnecessary wars against the Arabs—a critique more commonly heard on the left than the right—and that generals and security officials needed them in order to justify their positions and budgets. He praised the work of civil-rights groups and said it was a mistake to give broad powers to the security agencies
in order to suppress Palestinians because Israeli authorities would sooner or later use those powers against Jews as well. In the parlance of American politics, Hagai had become a libertarian.

In part, at least, the changes flowed from conversations he had in prison with Palestinians, including members of the Islamic Hamas group. That they found common ground should not be surprising. Outside prison, both Hamas and the Amirs played decisive roles in killing the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements. Inside, Hagai came to view Palestinians as allies in the battle against the (mostly Jewish) guards, whom he regarded as dumb and vindictive. He told me that Arab inmates could not demand the rights they had coming to them in prison because their Hebrew wasn’t good enough and they couldn’t afford lawyers. And so, in what must have been a bizarre scene even by prison standards, Hagai sat in his cell and penned petitions to the High Court of Justice on behalf of Arabs, including a member of the Islamic Hezbollah group captured during fighting in southern Lebanon. Hagai showed me a handwritten note the Hezbollah man (he remembered him as Barzawi) slipped him requesting help in petitioning for a mirror, a bookshelf, and a hearing with the parole board.

Hagai told me his ambition now was to free his brother. In a diary he kept in prison that ran to five hundred pages, he hinted at ways he might try to spring Amir by force once he himself gets out of jail. But in my interviews with him, he said those ideas were unrealistic—that only political and legal pressure could force his brother’s release.

Though the possibility seems unlikely, the fact that fully a quarter of Israelis now support a commuting of Yigal Amir’s sentence makes it not quite unimaginable. Amir has already won several legal battles since his imprisonment, including the right to marry Larissa Trimbobler. An immigrant from the former Soviet Union, she began writing Amir in prison soon after the murder and later got permission to visit him. Larissa was married at the time, with four children. She divorced in 2003 and soon realized she was in love with Amir, she told me. When prison authorities rejected their request to marry, Larissa staged a wedding-by-proxy ceremony, with Amir’s father standing in for the groom. After rabbis ruled that the procedure had the imprimatur
of Jewish Law, the High Court of Justice ordered Israeli authorities to register the couple as married.

They also won a fight for conjugal visits, though not before Amir tried to pass semen in a bag to Larissa during one of her visitations. A son was born to them in the fall of 2007 and named Yinon, one of the biblical terms for the messiah. Larissa told me that Amir chose the name as a prayer for the coming of the messiah—not some megalomaniacal intimation that the boy was one. Still, it seemed to reflect the murderer’s own sense of himself as a figure of historical and religious consequence. Jews circumcise their sons on the eighth day after the birth. In what Amir surely saw as yet another affirmation of God’s support for the assassination, Yinon’s circumcision ceremony fell on November 4—twelve years, to the day, after the murder.

Amir and Hagai have mostly rejected conspiracy theories about the murder over the years. In part, it was a matter of pride. The two men believe killing Rabin was a singular achievement, given all the obstacles, while the conspiracists pass the credit to others. But the family is divided on this issue. Geulah, the mother, told me she never believed her son fired the bullets that killed Rabin. And Larissa said Amir had come around to the idea that a retrial that focused on the loose ends in the murder investigation might somehow exonerate him.

If that’s the case, the assassin now wants to have it both ways: to boast that he saved Israel from Rabin’s betrayal—and hint that it might not have been him at all.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
’m indebted to a good many people who agreed to share recollections, documents, and photographs for this book, including Dalia Rabin and her knowledgeable staff members at the Yitzhak Rabin Center, Naomi Rapoport, Dorit Ben Ami, and Braha Eshel. Of the scores of people I approached for interviews, very few turned me away. I would particularly like to thank Eitan Haber and Shimon Sheves for their help, and also Shlomo Harnoy, Nahum Barnea, Ofer Gamliel, Niva Lanir, Lucien Haag, and Israeli Channel 10 News.

When the book was just an idea, my wife, Nancy Updike, encouraged me gently but relentlessly until I ran out of excuses. Daniel Klaidman, a good friend and colleague, saw where I needed to go next and—as he has several times over the years—graciously helped get me there. My terrific agent, Gail Ross, educated me about book proposals and set the deadlines I needed.

Over a twelve-month period, I wrote the manuscript in libraries and hotel rooms, in the living room of a Tel Aviv rental and in a studio on the east side of Manhattan. When the New York City apartment felt too small, I worked on the roof of the building, overlooking the East River. With her usual generosity, Helen Rountree has made the apartment—and by extension the roof garden—available to us whenever we need it. She was also an early booster for the book. Charlie Updike and Beth Kaufman allowed me to stay in their house on Lake Champlain while I labored to complete the final chapters. Charlie
also read the manuscript and offered valuable feedback, as did Howard Goller, Danny Kopp, and Stephen Kay, a loyal pal for as long as I can remember. Together, they saved me from embarrassing errors. Any remaining ones are my own. In Israel, Abby and the rest of the Pelegs provided delicious food and great company most Friday nights, along with their love and support. Nili Avidan took interest and offered insight, as did Dahlia Scheindlin, Bernard Avishai, and Sidra Dekoven Ezrahi. Tamar Vardi, a true friend over many years, helped with translations. David Blumenfeld and Bryan Meadan lent their artistic skills.

Being published by W. W. Norton is a privilege, made only better by the opportunity to work with John Glusman. His suggestions were always smart and his work on the manuscript sharp. I could not ask for a better editor. John’s assistant, Alexa Pugh, made the production process a lot easier.

Finally, a huge helping of love and appreciation to my son and daughter, who have rich and absorbing lives of their own and yet still take interest in the things their parents do. And to Nancy. I’m lucky to be married to a gifted writer who helped me shape the narrative, who never lost interest, who read the manuscript and made invaluable suggestions. Thank you.

NOTES

Please bookmark your page before following any links.

Chapter 1

9
the most secular Israeli:
Dennis Ross,
The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004), 91.

9
“Some Abu Ali”:
Aliza Wallach, interview with the author, June 17, 2013.

11
“We can blame Peres”:
Eitan Haber, interview with the author, August 5, 2013.

14
two old sumo wrestlers:
Uri Dromi, interview with the author, May 1, 2013.

14
“That man ruined my life”:
Nahum Barnea, interview with author, December 3, 2013.

16
yellow stains on the insides:
as described by Yehuda Hiss, Israel’s chief pathologist, in Rabin’s pathology report.

17
“He called me in the evening”:
Rabin-Peres: Everything Is Personal
, directed by Arik Henig, Israel, 2007, Dragoman Films.

17
The “quintet,” as Peres referred:
David Landau, interview with the author, June 23, 2013.

18
“I told him, if you go”:
Shimon Peres, interview with the author, February 15, 2012.

21
On the day of the ceremony:
Amos Eiran, interview with the author, July 2, 2013.

22
“We’re only at the beginning”:
Dahlia Yairi, interview with the author, November 3, 2013.

23
“You don’t invite the midwife”:
Ron Pundak, interview with the author, September 30, 2013.

25
“All right. All right”:
Bill Clinton,
My Life
(New York: Knopf Publishing Group, 2004), Kindle edition, chapter 35.

26
Rabin a regimented old soldier:
Shimon Sheves, interview with the author, June 1, 2013.

26
“was sort of sizing me up”:
Bill Clinton, speech to the AIPAC Policy Conference, May 1995.

27
thwart the traditional Arab embrace:
Clinton,
My Life
, chapter 35.

27
“Andrews, Bandar”:
Martin Indyk,
Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), 71.

30
“Your turn now”:
A Prime Minister’s Schedule,
directed by Shahar Segal
,
Israel, 1998.

31
become an apartheid regime:
Clinton,
My Life
, chapter 35.

31
Israeli intelligence agencies had intercepted:
Shimon Sheves, interview with the author, June 1, 2013.

31
“I can tell you that no doubt”:
Eitan Haber, interview with the author, February 18, 2013.

31
“If Golda was alive”:
Mahmoud Abbas,
Through Secret Channels
(London: Garnet Publishing, 1995), 214.

Chapter 2

35
he scored 144:
According to a psychological assessment of Amir ordered by the court and conducted by Dr. Gabriel Weil in February 1996.

37
“He feels a sense of guilt”:
Ibid.

37
A student several grades ahead:
Geulah Amir, interview with the author, August 8, 2013.

38
“Yigal was the enforcer”:
John Kifner, “The Making of Rabin’s Killer,”
New York Times
, November 18, 1995.

38
Most of the time, the Palestinians would pull:
Nili Korman, witness statement, November 1995.

39
came to regard him as exceptionally smart:
Avinoam Ezer, interview with the author, August 2013.

39
“must learn to fathom God’s Will”:
Michael Karpin and Ina Friedman,
Murder in the Name of God: The Plot to Kill Yitzhak Rabin
(London: Granta Books, 1998), 23.

40
“Only through prayer and Torah study”:
Shlomo Amir, witness statement, November 1995.

40
He hadn’t bothered cashing out:
Hagai Amir, court records, 1995–1996.

40
who liked taking apart old radios:
Geulah Amir, interview with the author, August 8, 2013.

43
After their service, he helped:
Israel Shirion, witness statement, November 1995.

43
On recurring visits:
Hagai Amir, court records, 1995–1996.

44
Amir outlined to Hagai:
Hagai Amir, interview with the author, July 14, 2013.

45
a link in a chain of Jewish rebellion:
Yigal Amir, court records, 1995–1996.

45
He and Hagai had both read
The Revolt
:
Hagai Amir, interview with the author, July 14, 2013.

47
“annihilation of Amalek”:
Karen Armstrong,
The Battle for God
(New York: Ballantine Books, 2001), 346.

47
“evil in the heart of Bar-Ilan”:
“Murder Taints ‘Tolerant’ Campus,”
Times Higher Education
, November 27, 1995, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/99018.article.

48
He agreed to let Amir pick up his notes:
Amit Hampel, interview with the author, August 4, 2013.

49
Rabbis and students at the seminary:
Kifner, “The Making of Rabin’s Killer.”

51
A photographer snapped pictures:
Yigal Amir, court records, 1995–1996.

51
At home, he related the events:
Hagai Amir, interview with the author, July 14, 2013.

52
Rabin liked to joke:
Niva Lanir, interview with the author, April 25, 2013.

53
“Rabin is a traitor, Rabin is a traitor”:
Noa Rothman, interview with the author, July 9, 2013.

54
But he became skeptical:
Karpin and Friedman,
Murder in the Name of God,
23.

54
Amir divided Israelis into two camps:
Yigal Amir, court records, 1995–1996.

55
blueprint for a “Jewish intifada”:
Amir Gilat, “We’ll Light a Fire,”
Ma’ariv
, November 1, 1993.

56
it wasn’t just Israel fretting:
Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer, “Taba First,”
Yedioth Ahronoth
, October 15, 1993.

Chapter 3

60
harbinger of bad news:
Noa Rothman, interview with the author, July 9, 2013.

62
The bag Goldstein had carried:
The crime scene is described in Danny Yatom,
The Confidant
(Israel: Yedioth Ahronoth, Hebrew, 2009),
chapter 9
. See also, Jacob Perry,
Strike First
(Tel Aviv: Keshet, Hebrew, 1999), 271.