A day after Bezalel Smotrich claimed on the stage of the Knesset that the Shin Bet encouraged Yigal Amir to assassinate Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, through various manipulations, on Channel 12 this evening (Monday) they published the recordings of the Prime Minister’s killer from the discussions of the Shamgar Committee, which investigated the murder. In the recordings, the killer is heard claiming, in his own voice, that the Shin Bet could not arrest him because they did not know about him at all: “The Shin Bet could not warn, they did not know about me.”
In his words to the committee, Amir explained why he chose to act in the violent way he chose: “Since the last elections, the situation in the country has bothered me a lot. Especially after the Goldstein massacre, that’s when I had the idea to take him down. I’m sorry for the words but…”.
Regarding the relationship with Shin Bet agent Avishai Raviv, known by his nickname “Champagne”, the killer claimed that “many times he said that Rabin should be killed, there are witnesses, heated conversations. But Avishi Raviv is not a personality to be listened to. He was assigned to the university. Only from my Saturdays did he start to become one. But also, every time he started something he would destroy. He would go to the media swearing on the grave of I don’t know who. All kinds of nonsense like that, I didn’t understand it. Now I understand many things, many more things.”
He also added on the subject of “Champagne”: “After the Goldstein massacre he moved to Kiryat Arba and I was told he was from the Shin Bet, suspicions began that he was working with the Shin Bet. These are rumors that were spread in Kiryat Arba, he arrived right after the Goldstein massacre and then there was a mess and returned “As he stopped people. Suspicions began that he was traveling with a car and a cell phone. They told me not to connect with him.”
“People think that the Shin Bet did not warn. The Shin Bet couldn’t alert them, they didn’t know about me. They knew that I organized Shabbat, but they couldn’t have known that I would do such a thing. No one in my company thinks that I would be capable of doing such a thing. Even today, people are shocked, lots of people know me,” said Amir tells the Shamgar committee.