Agency Not Told About Rabin Killer, Report Says

Two years after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, a secret report released Thursday says an informant for Israel’s Shin Bet secret service never told his handlers that an acquaintance was bragging about a plan to kill the Israeli leader.

The acquaintance, a right-wing religious Jew named Yigal Amir, later carried out his threat, gunning down the prime minister at a Tel Aviv peace rally Nov. 4, 1995.

The revelations, contained in previously unpublished sections of the state probe into the Rabin killing, came amid new attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other political figures to mend divisions in Israel that were laid bare by the assassination. Netanyahu, blamed by some of Rabin’s family members and associates for helping to create the climate that led to the killing, this week called for national reconciliation and an end to the angry rhetoric that has broken out anew over the assassination.

“I ask all of you . . . to unite around what we have in common . . . the desire to bring peace and security to this nation,” Netanyahu said at a special session Wednesday of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, to mark the anniversary of the slaying. “I especially turn to the friends of Yitzhak Rabin, my political rivals, who feel the pain of loss more than anyone.”

The release of seven pages of previously secret excerpts from the official investigation also is viewed as an attempt at national healing, specifically aimed at ending conspiracy theories alleging that Shin Bet, the agency charged with protecting prime ministers, was somehow involved in a plot to kill Rabin.

While the newly released sections lent no credence to the conspiracy theories, they concluded that the agency badly mishandled informant Avishai Raviv, a Jewish extremist who worked with the agency for eight years. Raviv was described in the report as a man who repeatedly attacked and harassed Palestinians, incited others to violence and told Amir, among others, that Jewish religious law permitted the killing of Rabin.

“This is a case of an agent who brings in a lot of information but who . . . commits a large number of illegal offenses with the knowledge that he will not be held responsible,” the report said. Raviv’s Shin Bet supervisors, who were often informed of his activities after the fact, warned him repeatedly but did not sever the relationship, the report said.

The new information prompted calls from the political right and left for an indictment against Raviv, evidently on charges of failing to prevent the assassination, and further investigation into Shin Bet’s handling of its informants.

The agency’s chief, Gen. Ami Ayalon, issued a rare statement Thursday acknowledging Shin Bet’s failings and saying the security service is formulating an ethics code to guide the behavior of agents and informants. He said he hoped that the new information would help end the divisive speculation.

In his speech to the Knesset, Netanyahu said he was willing to be “the first to do a soul-searching,” but he stopped short of issuing the apology that opposition lawmakers have demanded for his role in demonstrations before the assassination. He called for an end to the debate over the case.

Political analysts said the statement, which was met with similar conciliatory words from opposition leader Ehud Barak, appeared aimed at enticing Barak’s Labor Party into considering the possibility of a national unity government.

Barak said Thursday that a unity government with the Likud Party was not possible, unless Netanyahu “changes his agenda by 180 degrees.”

Some commentators said Netanyahu’s words may have targeted members of his own fractious Likud Party as much as the opposition. Several senior Likud members were angered this week over a successful bid by Netanyahu and his allies to cancel a primary election and consolidate power in his hands.