Yigal Amir

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Yigal Amir was born in Herzliya to an Israeli Orthodox Yemenite Jewish family, the second of eight children. His father Shlomo was a sofer who held a post supervising the kosher slaughtering of chickens and taught Shabbat lessons at a local synagogue. His mother Geula was a kindergarten teacher and ran a nursery school in the family home's backyard. Amir attended the Independent Education System-run Wolfsohn School in Herzliya, and Hayishuv Hahadash, a high school yeshiva in Tel Aviv. According to his mother, Amir, then aged 12, was initially rejected by the yeshiva for being a 'dark Yemenite' before he convinced staff to admit him. After graduating in 1989, he served 20 months of military service in the Israel Defense Forces as a Hesder student, combining army service in a religious platoon of the Golani Brigade, with religious study at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh between 1991 and 1993. Despite being in a religious unit, even his comrades considered him a religious fanatic. In early 1993, Amir successfully applied for a handgun permit, listing the reason as self-defense while providing a false residence in Shavei Shomron, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. In summer 1993, shortly after his graduation from Kerem B'Yavneh, Amir was nominated by Bnei Akiva to teach Judaism in Riga, Latvia, for two months as part of the Nativ organization. After returning to Israel in October 1993, Amir began studying at Bar-Ilan University as part of its kollel program, mixing religious and secular studies. He studied law and computer science, as well as Jewish law at the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies. Amir was known for his argumentative nature during debates with his rabbis, including Bar-Ilan University Dean Moshe Raziel, as Amir held the view that Jewish laws took priority over the secular laws of Israel. Amir was strongly opposed to the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. He participated in protest rallies against the accords on campus, was active in organizing weekend bus outings to support Israeli settlers, and helped found an illegal settlement outpost. He was especially active in Hebron, where he led marches through the streets. After the accords, Amir reasoned in discussions with friends that the commandment 'thou shalt not kill' did not apply to Rabin because he had 'hand[ed] over Jewish holy lands to the Arabs, [thus] blocking the redemption of the Jewish people.' During his years as an activist, Amir became friendly with Avishai Raviv, to whom he allegedly revealed his plan to kill Rabin. After the murder, it was revealed that Raviv, a well known right-wing extremist at the time, was in fact only posing as a right-wing radical. In reality, he was working for Shin Bet. While some right-wing militants have accused the Shin Bet of having orchestrated the assassination to discredit them, a court later ruled that there was no evidence Raviv knew Amir was plotting to kill Rabin. In 1994, during his university studies, Amir met—and began a platonic relationship with—a law student from an Orthodox Ashkenazi family. In January 1995, after five months, she ended the relationship after her parents objected due to Amir's Mizrahi background. She married one of his friends soon afterward. Amir, who attended the wedding, went into a deep depression. On November 4, 1995, after a demonstration in Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square (now Rabin Square) in support of the Oslo Accords, Amir waited for Rabin in a parking lot adjacent to the square, close to Rabin's official limousine. There, he shot Rabin twice with a Beretta 84F .380 ACP-caliber semi-automatic pistol, and injured Yoram Rubin, a security guard, with a third shot. Amir was immediately seized by Rabin's bodyguards. Rabin was rushed to Ichilov Hospital where he died on an operating table 40 minutes later of blood loss and a punctured lung. According to the court, Yigal Amir's brother Hagai and his friend Dror Adani were his accomplices in the assassination plan. Upon hearing that Rabin was dead, Amir told the police that he was 'satisfied' and was acting on the 'orders of God'. At his trial, Amir said he did not care if the outcome was death or paralysis as long as Rabin was 'out of the way'. He expressed no regret for his actions. The assassination had been preceded by three unsuccessful attempts that same year: at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, at the Nof Yerushalayim Hotel, and at a ceremony inaugurating a highway in Kfar Shmaryahu. These plans fell through moments before implementation. Amir's trial lasted from January 23 to March 27, 1996. He was initially defended by attorneys Yonatan Ray Goldberg and Mordechai Ofri, and later by Gabi Shachar and Shmuel Flishman. He was prosecuted by Pnina Guy, head of the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor's Office. The three judges who heard the case were presiding judge Edmond Levy and judges Saviona Rotlevy and Oded Mudrik. The judges ordered a mental examination by three district psychiatrists and a clinical psychiatrist, who all agreed that Amir understood the meaning of his actions and was fit to stand trial. Amir admitted to shooting Rabin and attempted to justify his actions on religious grounds, claiming that shooting Rabin was an act of din rodef ('law of the pursuer'), which would allow killing to prevent the deaths of innocent Jews. He also claimed he had only intended to paralyze Rabin and not kill him. The court rejected his arguments, and he was found guilty of the murder of Rabin and inflicting injury under aggravating circumstances over the wounding of Yoram Rubin. Amir was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Rabin plus six additional years in prison for injuring Rubin. In the verdict, the three judges wrote: 'Every murder is an abominable act, but the act before us is more abominable sevenfold, because not only has the accused not expressed regret or sorrow, but he also seeks to show that he is at peace with himself over the act that he perpetrated. He who so calmly cuts short another's life, only proves the depth of wretchedness to which [his] values have fallen, and thus he does not merit any regard whatsoever, except pity, because he has lost his humanity.' Amir's claim that he was acting in accordance with Jewish law was rejected by the judges: 'The attempt to grant religious authority to the murder ... is completely inappropriate and amounts to cynical exploitation of Jewish law for goals that are alien to Judaism.' Rabin's assassination was condemned by Bar-Ilan University. Daniel Sperber, a professor of Talmud at the university, said that the assassination 'in no way represents the university or the policy of the university'. Amir was later sentenced to an additional five years, and after an appeal on behalf of the state, eight years, for conspiring to commit the assassination with his brother Hagai Amir and Dror Adani. All of the sentences were cumulative. In Israel, a sentence of life imprisonment is usually reduced to a period of 20–30 years by the president, with the possibility of further reduction for good behaviour. However, President Moshe Katsav did not reduce the sentence, saying that there is 'no forgiveness, no absolution, and no pardon' for Yigal Amir. Prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Olmert have also said that Yigal Amir will never be released from prison. On December 19, 2001, the Knesset, by majority of 62 members, approved the Yigal Amir Law, which prohibits a parole board from recommending pardon or shortening time in prison for a murderer of a prime minister. His legal team and supporters deride the law as being tailor made to punish Amir, being applied retroactively. Amir began appealing on these grounds in December 2020 to the High Court of Justice against the law. Amir was held in solitary confinement in Beersheba's Eshel Prison, and moved in 2003 to the Ayalon Prison in Ramla, where a solitary confinement wing was built especially for him. In 2006, he was transferred to Rimonim Prison in Tel Mond, near Netanya. He was also granted the privileges of having no surveillance cameras in his cell, the right to receive visitors in the visiting room, rather than in his cell, and the right to speak with other prisoners. Amir was interviewed by the Israeli press in 2008, but the planned broadcast was controversial and subsequently cancelled. As punishment for giving the interview, Amir was moved to Ramon Prison, and had a number of privileges withdrawn, including the removal of his TV and DVD player and the refusal of family visits; Amir went on a hunger strike in protest. In February 2010, the Nazareth District Court permitted the Ynet internet news service to interview Amir. In July 2010, after 15 years of solitary confinement, Amir appealed to the Petah Tikva District Court to be permitted to participate in group prayers in accordance with Jewish law. He claimed that the terms of his imprisonment were worse than any other prisoner in the history of the State of Israel, on the grounds that no other prisoner had been in solitary for this amount of time.

Reader's Guide

Yigal Amir's assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was a watershed event in Israeli history, marking the first murder of an Israeli prime minister and deeply polarizing the nation. The act was rooted in religious extremism and opposition to the Oslo Accords, which Amir viewed as a betrayal of Jewish holy lands. His trial highlighted the tension between secular law and religious justification, with the court rejecting his din rodef defense as a cynical exploitation of Jewish law. The Knesset subsequently passed a law preventing the president from pardoning a prime minister's assassin, and successive prime ministers have stated Amir will never be released. The case also raised questions about Shin Bet's handling of informants, as Avishai Raviv, a known right-wing extremist, was revealed to be an agent, though no evidence linked him to the plot. Amir remains in prison under strict conditions, and his continued threat to national security is assessed by the Shin Bet. His legacy is one of political violence, religious extremism, and the enduring trauma of a leader's murder.

Did You Know?

• Amir was initially rejected by a high school yeshiva at age 12 for being a 'dark Yemenite' before convincing staff to admit him.
• He obtained a handgun permit in early 1993 by listing a false residence in Shavei Shomron, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
• Three unsuccessful assassination attempts preceded the successful one in 1995: at Yad Vashem, the Nof Yerushalayim Hotel, and a highway ceremony in Kfar Shmaryahu.
• The Knesset passed the Yigal Amir Law on December 19, 2001, by a majority of 62 members, prohibiting parole or pardon for a prime minister's murderer.
• Amir went on a hunger strike after being punished for a 2008 press interview, which led to the removal of his TV and DVD player and refusal of family visits.