In a
recently published book on the subject of The Truth about
the Assassination of the Late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, author
Avraham Rotem, former head of the Personal Protection Unit of the General
Security Services, attributes the tragic event, of which there has been no
graver in the history of the state, to the defective functioning of the
heads of the GSS in general, and of the personal protection arrangements
of the GSS in particular. The question that arises is whether this is a
case of system breakdown and poor appointments alone, or a case of
something much graver, since many of the questions that were left hanging
and still remained after the publication of the report of the Shamgar
Commission, which investigated the Prime Minister’s assassination,
continue to remain, and to disturb, after the publication of Rotem’s book.
One of the difficult questions, to which Rotem’s book as well does not
provide a persuasive answer, concerns the meaning of the cries: “Blanks,
blanks!” that were heard at the scene of the murder immediately upon the
sound of the shots. Does this not lend credence to the theory that an
attempt was made here at the staging of an assassination – an attempt that
was foiled by the murderer of the Prime Minister, who fired real shots?
Another question involves the episode of Shlomo Halevi, who several months
before the assassination conveyed partial information about Yigal Amir’s
intentions, without providing his exact identity – information of which
the GSS made no use. Additional questions concern the use of the GSS agent
Avishai Raviv, who was on constant surveillance of Yigal Amir even though
this did not prevent the assassination. There are also various indications
of the apparent involvement of the GSS in sundry acts of provocation by
Raviv. For these questions Rotem’s book fails to offer any satisfying
explanations, and hence it seems that, even though Rotem’s book is an
important document for understanding the background of the deterioration
of the GSS, the entire truth about this terrible episode has not yet been
uncovered.
