Yigal Amir

Yigal Amir, the young, right-wing Jewish fanatic who has proudly confessed to killing Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, is surely being given the most preferential treatment of any assassin in modern history (Dec. 20). As someone recently remarked, you’d think he was being charged with a minor traffic violation instead of committing a major crime of historic importance. How else to explain the fact that he never appears in court handcuffed, shackled, or dressed in prison garb? And if there was ever anyone in need of an “attitude adjustment” it is certainly this impudent young pup--someone should wipe that insufferable smirk right off his face.

Although he’s in protective custody, the way Amir is being indulged by the Israeli authorities either puts the way miscreants are dealt with under the American system to shame or else highlights just how much more civilized the Israelis are when it comes to these matters. But more likely it stems from the same cavalier attitude toward Jewish extremists well-known to be shared by all the various and sundry Israeli law enforcement agencies that practically gave Amir carte blanche to carry out his dastardly deed in the first place.

RICKEY C. MANTLEY

Los Angeles