The words of the chairman of the “Religious Zionism” party, MK Bezalel Smotrich, during the memorial service for the late Yitzhak Rabin in the Knesset plenum caused a great stir, after he claimed that the Shin Bet, which employed the agent Avishai Raviv, was largely responsible for incitement among activists Right, which preceded the murder. Shin Bet officials severely criticized the statements, the former heads of the organization were interviewed and protested and politicians mobilized to strongly condemn, but among those who were active in the protest against Oslo in the early 1990s, the name ‘Avishi Raviv’ is remembered and not in a good way. His activities and especially his teachings – remain a mystery. Following the storm, stories, experiences and memories about him began to float on the networks.
Hani Spitz-Winkler, who coordinated the activities of the Samaria Horns youth during the protest period against the Oslo Accords, wrote yesterday on Facebook that “we were motivated to explain to the people kindly, but at the same time in the settlement of the territory, that the security of the people of Israel and the State of Israel cannot be neglected.” According to her, “One day, a friendly, smiling and charismatic young man – Avishi Raviv – came to us. He spoke enthusiastically about the Land of Israel, the people of Israel and the Torah of Israel, and that it was necessary to act and save the Land of Israel. He said that he had founded a youth organization, named Iel, that would work for the integrity of the Land of Israel . A wonderful story that seemingly fits an activity I was already involved in anyway. I agreed that he would enroll me in his organization. The IL organization”, later she described how “I returned home completely disturbed by the meeting with him. I knew that the name IL was familiar to me from somewhere else and I didn’t like it. I tried to remember why. I opened the book ‘Tears of Fire’ by Deborah Omar and discovered that IL was a youth organization that fought against the Nazis. I realized that someone was playing with me and us youth, and was trying to pull us into dark realms. We were excellent, quality youth, who loved the people and the country, and someone was trying to get in and stir up the atmosphere.” At the end she wrote that she had not been in contact with him since then, but met him again by chance and ran away from him. At the end of her article: “We didn’t imagine a real rebellion, we didn’t think about weapons and violence, we didn’t feel like we were fighting against Nazis. Whoever tried to introduce these ideas and whoever waved the gun with the picture of the late Yitzhak Rabin on it, was none other than a Shin Bet agent , Avishai Raviv, Mr. Champagne”.
Many responded to Hani’s words. In one of the responses, a surfer named Yitzchak wrote that “I was at a demonstration in Zion Square, I was standing next to the Israel Broadcasting Authority car on the roof of which Nitzan Chen was standing (Reporter Israel Broadcasting Authority, SH). Avishi Raviv stood next to me and pulled out the poster showing Rabin in SS uniform. I yelled at him not to bring it out, and Nitzan Chen told him to wait until you get on the air and then pull out the placard and that’s how it was.” So if this is not the work of the Shin Bet – then whose is it?” Another commenter, Neta Magen, wrote that “I was a religious student at Bar Ilan at the time. Avishi also hung out at Bar Ilan and tried to stir things up.”
In another post, a woman named Tali Reutel wrote: “I was at this demonstration with signs that I collected from the Yesha council, ‘Don’t give them guns,’ ‘Yesha is here,’ and Israeli flags. The person who waved provocative signs was Shin Bet agent Avishi Raviv, known as Champagne’, and 14-year-old boys from Kiryat Arba that he accused of committing a crime when they were minors. Their signage was hastily shown to the Channel 1 team and disappeared. All this from a satanic plan to discredit us, the sane right. Succeeded them to the wicked. To this day there are scoundrels who accuse me of murdering Yitzhak Rabin.”
Likud activist Ran Carmi Bozaglo also shared memories of the scandalous agent. According to him, “I met Avishi Raviv for the first time a few months before the murder of the late Yitzhak Rabin. One and only meeting. The “Junction” branch in Holon waged a struggle to remove Shebahim from the city, who were attacking the residents. We went on a tour of the Chomsa sands, to the site of Shebahim encampments that, according to early information, had settled there. All along the way, Raviv made many extreme statements against Arabs and against what he called ‘the terrorists of the left,'” to conclude, Karmi-Bozglou wrote that “later it became known that at that time he was already acting as a Shin Bet agent, and the meaning is one thing: Raviv provoked their knowledge. I must emphasize that he murdered Rowe” M is a heinous crime and I have already made it clear that I would put my body between him and the killer’s bullets. At the same time, we must re-investigate the affair (in all its aspects) and stop once and for all the wild incitement against the entire national camp.”
We will recall that on Sunday, during the memorial for Rabin in the Knesset plenum, Smotrich said in his speech that the security agencies “used irresponsible manipulations that have not been fully exposed to this day, to encourage the murderer to carry out his plan.” The Shin Bet criticized him and said that “precisely on this day, an elected official chose to encourage conspiracies and discredit an organization whose entire mission is countering terrorism in any form and protecting the security of the state. Statements that encourage extremist discourse must be condemned.” But it seems that despite the disavowal of the various parties, and even 27 years later, many on the right feel that the Avishai Raviv issue and the subsequent murder of Rabin have left many unresolved questions.