Rightist Acquitted of Wrongdoing in Rabin Killing

Rightist Acquitted of Wrongdoing in Rabin Killing
March 31, 2003

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli court on Monday acquitted a former Israeli undercover agent of charges that he failed to prevent an extremist Jew he had befriended from killing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

When Rabin was gunned down at a peace rally, Avishai Raviv, a right-wing activist, had been acting as an informant on ultra-nationalists for Israel's Shin Bet security service, which provides bodyguards for Israeli prime ministers.

Raviv had befriended Yigal Amir, who shot Rabin as he left the rally on November 4, 1995, and is now serving a life sentence. Amir believed Rabin had betrayed Israel by concluding interim peace deals with the Palestinians.

The charge sheet said Amir had told Raviv on several occasions that Rabin had transgressed rabbinical decrees and should be killed, but the agent failed to tell Shin Bet.

Raviv, 36, maintained throughout his more than three-year trial that he had not known Amir intended to assassinate Rabin.

"I had no part in this terrible act. I wish I could have prevented it. That was my goal. As I said, I didn't believe it," Raviv said after the sentence was read on Monday.
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