It was a murder that rocked Israel, the Middle East and the power corridors in Washington – -and now a new video image brings it into focus more clearly than ever.
This was the lead of the CNN report on Nov. 4, 1995:
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated at a peace rally Saturday night in Tel Aviv’s Kings Square, a top aide confirmed. He was reportedly shot in the arm and back by a Jewish man in his mid-20s who is allegedly affiliated with right-wing extremist groups.
Rabin was walking to his car after the rally when he was shot. The 73-year-old prime minister later died in surgery at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
The gunman has been identified as Yigal Amir, a law student at Bar Ilan University who had been involved in right-wing causes, Israel television reported. It said Amir, a resident of the central town of Herzeliya, had connections to the far-right group Eyal. Israeli television said police arrested Amir after the shooting. (376K QuickTime movie)Amir confessed to the assassination and reportedly told investigators, “I acted alone on God’s orders and I have no regrets.”
A senior aide said that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will assume the role of acting prime minister.
And, now, 12 years after the event, there’s this enhanced video of the event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3nYsOL_pTUJoe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.