Israeli Government Vows to Squelch Jewish Extremists

As a state inquiry began into the security failures that led to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, the Israeli Cabinet said Sunday it will crack down on Jewish extremists.

The government established three committees to study ways to disband Jewish extremist groups, to bar Jewish extremists from entering Israel and to cut off funds to institutions believed to incite against democracy, Cabinet Secretary Shmuel Hollander said.

“The government declares that extremist, violent, racist and terrorist organizations pose a great threat to the democratic regime of Israel, to the security of the state and the safety of the public,” Hollander said.

Education Minister Amnon Rubinstein said the action represents the launching of “a war against Jewish terrorism.”

Right-wing political leaders accused the government of engaging in a witch hunt aimed at stifling legitimate dissent. But legal expert and civil libertarian Moshe Negbi said the government’s actions are negligible.

“They made the same promises after Baruch Goldstein carried out his massacre in Hebron,” Negbi said. “And nothing happened.”

In February, 1994, Goldstein, a U.S.-born Jewish settler, killed about 30 Muslim worshipers in the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron. After the attack, the government banned the extremist Kach and Kahane Chai organizations and shut their main offices.

“But that was it,” Negbi said. “The courts and the police have done nothing against Jewish extremists. I am sorry to say that I do not think that the right wing has anything to worry about.”

Rubinstein agreed that the government’s attitude toward Jewish extremist groups has, in the past, been “indifferent.” But no more, he said.

“It is our duty to fight Jewish terrorism,” he said. “We have decided to put an end to this restraint and indifference toward subversive elements in Jewish groups and to stand up and take action.”

But even as the government deliberated, Israelis were debating the latest twist in the assassination story. Israeli newspapers reported Sunday that Shin Bet, Israel’s secret service, had hired Avishai Raviv, the leader of the right-wing Eyal group, as an informer on Jewish extremist groups two years ago.

The allegations dropped like a bombshell, because they raise questions about how much Shin Bet knew of the alleged conspiracy to kill Rabin.

Raviv was detained for nine days after Rabin’s assassination and then put under house arrest at his parents’ home in Holon, near Tel Aviv. Raviv is thought to have been close to Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir, and to Amir’s brother Hagai. Yigal Amir was an Eyal member.

Israeli newspapers reported Sunday that Raviv agreed to inform on the activities of far-right groups such as Kach and Kahane Chai; in return, Shin Bet agreed to ignore Eyal’s activities.

Davar Rishon, a left-of-center Israeli newspaper, quoted an unnamed senior Shin Bet source as saying that not only was Raviv an informant, but Shin Bet supported Eyal’s activities in an effort to increase its understanding of far-right groups.

Beni Alon, one of the founders of the far-right Zo Artzeinu organization, alleged Sunday that Eyal was created by Shin Bet to act as an agent provocateur at right-wing demonstrations. Alon asked to testify before the state commission of inquiry that began hearing evidence Sunday from the head of Shin Bet and other senior security agents on Rabin’s assassination.

In an interview with Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s mass-circulation daily, Raviv denied that he had ever informed for Shin Bet.

But the allegations further cloud the events leading to Rabin’s assassination Nov. 4 as he left a peace rally in Tel Aviv. Seven Israelis remain in custody, and the police continue to insist that Rabin was the victim of a conspiracy and that Yigal Amir did not act alone, as he claims.

According to police investigators, Hagai and Yigal Amir were the leaders of an organization that overlapped but was separate from Eyal that planned to assassinate Israeli leaders and carry out attacks on Palestinian officials and Palestinians living in the West Bank. The group allegedly was formed after Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed a framework peace accord in September, 1993.

The “inner circle” of the conspirators allegedly consisted of the Amir brothers; a close friend of Yigal Amir’s from the army, Dror Adani, and a fellow law student of Yigal Amir’s, Margalit Harshefi. Hagai Amir has already confessed to manufacturing the bullets used to kill Rabin and supplying them to his brother.

Harshefi has been called a “central and dominant figure” in the conspiracy to kill Rabin. Police say they have evidence that she knew of at least three failed attempts by Yigal Amir to kill Rabin. Investigators allege that Harshefi encouraged Amir to keep trying. She has denied any involvement in the alleged plot.

In addition, three others--Michael Epstein, Ohad Skornik and Arik Shwartz--are alleged to have known of Yigal Amir’s intentions to attack Palestinians. Shwartz is an active-duty Golani soldier who is suspected of passing weapons and explosives to the Amir brothers.

No formal charges have been brought against any of those who are being held. Indictments are expected against Epstein, Skornik and Hagai Amir by week’s end, according to police.

Under Israeli law, the suspects may be held without being charged for several days with the approval of a judge. They may also be denied the right to consult with their attorneys or to see the evidence against them for extended periods of time if Shin Bet can convince a judge that national security is at stake or that the investigation might be jeopardized by sharing evidence with the defense.

In another revelation Sunday, police ballistics experts said their tests show that Yigal Amir stood with his gun against Rabin’s back when he fired the first bullet. In a reconstruction of the crime carried out at the scene last week, Amir demonstrated to police that he stood slightly behind the prime minister, his arm extended, when he opened fire.

But ballistics experts told Israel Radio that, in fact, Rabin “felt the gun before he felt the bullet.” Rabin was hit twice and suffered massive internal injuries.

Quoting unnamed police investigators, Yediot Aharonot reported Sunday that Amir ingratiated himself with a police officer as he loitered in the parking lot, waiting for Rabin to leave the rally. The area was supposed to be “sanitized”--cleared of all unauthorized people. But Amir wandered in during the rally and offered to identify various performers and dignitaries to the police guard. He was waiting when Rabin walked down the stairs from the stage and headed toward his armor-plated car.