RAMALLAH, West Bank: The head of Israel’s internal intelligence agency Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin, said yesterday he was “very concerned” that far-right Jewish elements may attempt to harm Israeli political leaders in order to thwart diplomatic progress with Palestinians.
Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting, Diskin warned: “As the anniversary of (Prime Minister Yitzhak) Rabin assassination approaches, the Shin Bet has spotted among the extreme right-wing a willingness to use arms to stop diplomatic processes and harm political leaders. The Shin Bet is extremely concerned by this.”
Rabin was murdered by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir on Nov. 4, 1995.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir also warned of another impending political assassination. “The same group that went wild and caused the Rabin murder may act again. In the current situation, another murder could be carried out by extreme rightists, as it appears that a large part of those people are fanatically pious.
“We must come to operative conclusions, because not only could we face another political murder, but also a murder of an officer or soldier, which puts the state and the Israeli society in an entirely different place.”
Tamir, who was attacked by right-wing activists during a visit to Jerusalem’s Mercza Harav seminary, said three steps should be taken to avert such a murder.
“We must locate, register and arrest the radical elements; search for weapons in their homes and property; and change the legislation on incitement.”
Rabin’s assassination continues to reverberate in the country. On Friday, two Israeli TV stations were forced to pull telephone interviews with Amir after they were roundly condemned for giving him exposure.
In excerpts of the interviews, Amir’s first, he said he had been inspired to commit the assassination by criticism of Rabin’s peace moves that he heard from ex-military politicians like Ariel Sharon, Israel’s former prime minister. Sharon has been in a coma since suffering a stroke in January 2006.
