Rabin Assassin Takes Over Defense After Lawyer Quits

Yigal Amir, the confessed assassin of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, took over his own defense Sunday after one of his lawyers quit and the presiding judge accused the second lawyer of incompetence.

Amir seemed unshaken by the collapse of his defense team and calmly cross-examined police investigators who painted a picture of him celebrating Rabin’s death after his arrest.

“When you were questioning me, what was your impression of my state of mind? Was I angry? Did it look like I was seeking revenge?” Amir asked Mordechai Naftali, one of his initial interrogators.

“You said it was not out of vengeance,” Naftali responded.

“It was your impression that I was agitated or anxious?” Amir asked.

“My impression was that he was as cold as a fish,” Naftali said, turning to the three-judge panel hearing the case in Tel Aviv district court.

In an earlier court appearance, Amir said that he had not intended to kill Rabin but had hoped to render the prime minister incapable of governing by shooting him in the back.

If Amir is convicted of murder, he will serve a mandatory life sentence. If he is convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter, he will serve no more than 20 years.

The 25-year-old Amir, a third-year law student, has confessed to shooting Rabin to death Nov. 4 as the prime minister left a peace rally in Tel Aviv. An observant Jew with far-right political leanings, Amir said he shot Rabin in the hopes that he would put an end to his peacemaking efforts with the Palestinians.

Naftali testified that, during his first interrogation, Amir asked for cookies and wanted to toast Rabin’s death.

“He asked me if he could have some food, and I told him, ‘Do you see us eating?’ He said then, ‘Well, give me some cookies,’ and I said firmly, ‘We don’t have any cookies.’ Then he said, ‘Well, then, let’s raise a toast.’ ”

At the start of Sunday’s session, attorney Mordechai Ofri told the court he was quitting Amir’s defense team, citing his lack of control over Amir’s line of defense and a shortage of funds to pay for expert witnesses. Presiding Judge Edmond Levi accepted Ofri’s resignation.

That left Jonathan Ray Goldberg, an immigrant from the United States who lives in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, to defend Amir. Goldberg, who speaks Hebrew poorly and seems to have a limited grasp of the Israeli legal system, is believed to have been hired by supporters of Amir who hope to turn the case into a show trial for right-wing ideology.

Goldberg succeeded Sunday only in enraging Levi, who at one point lost his temper as he rejected Goldberg’s appeal to delay the case and give him more time to prepare a defense.

“If you ask one more time for a delay, I will consider forcing you to pay all the court expenses,” Levi responded. “The negligence in which you are handling this case is unbelievable.”

Prosecutors said that, because Amir disputes only the motive behind the shooting and not the facts surrounding it, they are cutting their witness list from 47 to 15 and may finish calling witnesses as early as today.

It is not clear whether Amir will call any witnesses in his defense. Levi let Amir cross-examine witnesses Sunday even after Goldberg questioned them.

Times staff writer Curtius reported from Jerusalem and special correspondent Shvily from Tel Aviv.