Rabin aide: Hagai Amir should have left prison in casket
Shimon Sheves, who served as head of PM's Office under slain premier, says assassin's brother should have been kept in jail 'until his body rotted.' Yossi Sarid: His release made me nauseous
"Such a man should have remained in prison until the end of his days," Shimon Sheves, a former aide to Yitzhak Rabin, said Friday in response the release of Hagai Amir, the brother of the late prime minister's assassin.
"The only way he should have been let out of prison is in a casket," said Sheves, who served as director general of the Prime Minister's Office during the Rabin government.
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Hagai Amir (44) was released earlier in the day after serving 16.5 years in prison for conspiring with his brother Yigal Amir to kill Rabin.
Upon leaving the Ayalon Prison gates, Amir made a 'V' sign with his hand, and told reporters: "I am proud of what I did. I have no regrets."
"I feel awful. I want to scream out that - from a moral standpoint - (he should have) remained in prison for life," Sheves told Ynet.
Those who were involved in the assassination wanted to "deal the State of Israel and the Israeli nation a devastating blow," the former Rabin aide said. "This man (Hagai Amir) did not pull the trigger, but he prepared the bullets for the pistol. Therefore, he belongs in prison – until his body rots behind bars. The court's decision contradicts values and morality.
"The wound has yet to heal. A significant part of Israeli society was not too unhappy when the scoundrel murdered (Rabin). Some of them were key accomplices to the incitement that led to the murder. So today is not a day of joy, but a day of mourning. For me, it is another day of mourning," Sheves said.
Yossi Sarid, who served as education minister in Rabin's government, said Hagai Amir's release made him "nauseous."
"I feel like throwing up," the former leftist politician told Ynet. "This is yet another case in which what the law requires is not always the right thing to do. I believe Hagai Amir's statement that he is proud of what he did has legal significance. A person who says he is proud of what he did would certainly want another opportunity to commit such an act. His statement is ominous. After such a warning, someone should have (sent him) right back to prison."
Opposition Chairman Shaul Mofaz posted a response on his Facebook page: "Israeli society will not forgive or forget his involvement in the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. I urge the Shin Bet (internal security service) to closely follow Hagai Amir's every move."
Earlier, Hagai Amir visited Elad, where his sister resides. Amir arrived with his parents and sister-in-law Larissa Amir-Trimbobler, but he was asked to leave the haredi city before Shabbat.
"Had we known that (Amir) was coming, perhaps we would have simply closed the entrance gate," one of the residents told Ynet. "This is not a city of refuge. Had he been allowed to remain here over the Sabbath, he probably would have come to the synagogue for prayers – how could we tolerate such a thing? It would have been a desecration of God's name."
Hagai Amir will spend the Sabbath with relatives in the settlement of Shavei Shomron, despite the objection of many locals. Some of them placed signs reading "Thou shalt not kill" and "Murder is not our way" near the home of Amir's relatives.
Kobi Nahshoni contributed to the report
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