‘Free Rabin assassin from prison’ – on this condition – attorney

After court invalidates “personal law,” former lawyer for prime minister’s killer argues for nullification of laws that targeted his client.

By World Israel News Staff

A prominent attorney who once represented Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin said that his former client’s continued detention is proof of Supreme Court hypocrisy regarding so-called “personal laws.”

Ari Shamai, a frequent panelist on Channel 14’s The Patriots political commentary TV show, noted that the Supreme Court unanimously overturned a law that benefited a political associate of Shas party head Aryeh Deri, arguing that personal laws have no place in the Israeli legal system.

“I am happy to hear that the Supreme Court is against personal laws,” Shamai said during the broadcast on Sunday evening.

Following the ruling, he argued, “it’s time to release [Rabin’s assassin] Yigal Amir, because personal laws were also enacted against him.”

Amir, who shot and killed Rabin in 1995, has been incarcerated for nearly 30 years in extremely restrictive conditions.

The “Yigal Amir” law, passed by the Knesset in 2001, was specifically written with him in mind. The measure bans prison parole boards from ever shortening, pardoning, or commuting the sentence of a person convicted of killing a prime minister.

Although some in the audience applauded, others on the show were less receptive to Shamai’s statements.

The Patriots host Yinon Magal quickly cut off Shamai and said that “we won’t get into that.”

“The serious remarks made by Ari Shamai represent his views alone. In light of the seriousness of the matter, Mr. Shamai will no longer be invited to appear on the channel’s programs,” Channel 14 announced in a statement shortly after the broadcast.

Although Amir confessed to the slaying, questions have swirled for years regarding the Shin Bet security agency’s alleged knowledge of the assassination before it occurred. In 2022, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich referenced the fact that a senior Shin Bet agent had infiltrated a circle of right-wing activists that included Amir and suggested that the agent had intentionally riled up members of the group to commit acts of violence.

“Those who failed in protecting Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin were not the right-wingers and the religious Zionists and the settlers who justifiably decried his government’s policies — it was the security services, which not only failed to protect him, but also used irresponsible manipulations, which haven’t been fully exposed to this day, to encourage the murderer to carry out his plan,” Smotrich said.

Israel Judicial SystemIsraeli Supreme CourtJudicial reformRabin assassinationSupreme CourtYigal AmirYitzhak Rabin