Igal Shlomo Amir is an Israeli settler, known for his hostility to the peace agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel. He worked to establish a settlement outpost in the West Bank lands. He became famous after his assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and a few more years.

Birth and upbringing

Yigal Amir was born on May 23, 1970, in the city (Herzliya), located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, in northern occupied Palestine, to a Jewish family of Yemeni origin. His father worked in the profession of slaughtering poultry according to Jewish law, in addition to his work as a teacher in a local synagogue. As for his mother, she worked as a teacher in a kindergarten.

Amir appears - as the New York Times describes him - "a polite young man who speaks kindly and does not appear to be affected by thoughts of violence." It adds that he has a sense of humor, interested in studying the Torah throughout his life, while his friend Shlomo Halevy describes him as fanatical about what he called "the holy trinity: a people, Torah, and the land of Israel.

Amir took Baruch Goldstein - a settler from (Kiryat Arba) near the city of Hebron - as his ideal, especially after Goldstein carried out the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, in which 29 Palestinian worshipers were killed in 1994, and he also does not hide his influence on Noam Livnat, the well-known settler. in Israeli right-wing circles.

A picture of the place where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995 (French - archive)

Study and formation

Amir began his academic life at the Haredi school, Wolfson, in which he received his basic education in the city of Herzliya, then moved to another school called "Yeshiva" (the new community) near Tel Aviv. Studying religious education and Jewish law at Kerem School.

Then he moved to university education in 1993 and joined Bar-Ilan University, majoring in law and computer science, and learning Jewish law at the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies.

Where this university was established to support Jewish religious sciences and other sciences.

During his university studies, he participated in marches against the Oslo Accords, which the occupation authorities signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization in September 1993, and contributed to building settlement outposts in the West Bank, and led settlers' marches in Hebron.

After completing military service in the elite unit "Golani Brigade", he ran to teach Judaism in Riga, the capital of Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea coast, as part of a religious activity carried out by the Israel Liaison Office "Nativ" for the benefit of Jews in their places of residence in the countries of the Soviet Union, and he stayed there as a volunteer. for three months, before returning to the occupying power.

In 1992 he participated in the Israeli elections and elected the Moledet party, which calls for the complete expulsion of the Palestinians from their country and the annexation of the lands of the West Bank to the occupying state.

Yigal Amir in the courtroom in 2007 (French - archive)

Three attempts on Rabin's life

In 1995, Amir attempted to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin three times, the first at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, the second at the Nof Jerusalem Hotel, and the third at the inauguration ceremony of an overhead bridge in Kafr Shammar Yahu, near Tel Aviv. .

All of these attempts failed, until on November 4, 1995, after a demonstration in Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv, in which Rabin participated - and the aim was to support the (Oslo) agreement - Amir shot Rabin, killing him, and wounding the security guard, Yoram Rubin. The Prime Minister's guards arrested him.

Court and prison conditions

After placing him in prison, he was brought before the Israeli judiciary for trial, and three psychiatrists confirmed that Amir understands the meaning of his actions and is able to stand trial and serve the sentence. On the other hand, the defense lawyer rejected this result, describing the doctors as having no courage in saying that Amir does not bear responsibility for his actions, and that he is insane.

He was brought before the Israeli courts from January 23 to March 27, 1996. During his trial, he justified his killing of Rabin by saying that the latter violated Jewish religious teachings and granted the Palestinians the right to establish their state on Jewish land, according to his claim, and that he did not The shooting was not intended to kill;

Rather, he only wanted to paralyze Rabin, and as a result, the court did not attach any importance to Amir's statement, and sentenced him to life imprisonment and an additional 6 years in prison.

Amir remained in solitary confinement, with no other inmates. He also moved between Eshel prisons in Beersheba, Ayalon in Ramleh, and Rimonim near Netanya.

During his sentence, he went through several hunger strikes to improve the conditions of his detention, and as a result he obtained some privileges.

Such as: watching television, listening to the radio, and the right to meet with other inmates.

Yitzhak Rabin took over as prime minister from July 13, 1992 to November 4, 1995 (Getty Images - Archive)

His marriage to Larissa Trembovler

In January 2004, Larissa Trembovler - a Jew of Russian origin and holds a doctorate in philosophy - announced that she was engaged to Amir and wanted to marry him while he was in prison, without succeeding in obtaining the approval of the Israeli civil court to recognize this marriage.

In August 2004, Amir and Trimbofler married by surreptitious proxy, under Jewish law, and in July 2005 their marriage was legalized by an Israeli rabbinical court, but this marriage was also not recognized by the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

Then Amir was allowed a 10-hour conjugal visit, after the civil court recognized his marriage and his right to meet his wife inside the prison, and on October 28, 2007 she gave birth to his first son, Yinon Elijah Shalo.

Religious claims and attempts to release him

Yigal Amir applied to be allowed to participate in collective prayer, and in August 2010 the Petah Tikva court agreed for him to meet with another prisoner to pray three times a week, as well as to study the Torah collectively once every two weeks.

In October 2007 his family and a number of right-wing Israeli organizations began organizing campaigns to distribute statements to the media, posters and short films aimed at seeking his release.