Alleged Rabin conspiracy theorist tapped to head Communications Ministry
After firing director-general, Netanyahu plans to appoint Shlomo Filber, who claims he was asked to add his name to article alleging Rabin assassination was a Shin Bet 'work accident'.
An apparent conspiracy theorist regarding Yitzhak Rabin's assassination is about to be appointed head of the Communications Ministry.
After having fired the current director-general in a brief phone call, Prime Minister and Communications Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to appoint Shlomo Filber, a close ally, to fill the position.
A month after Rabin's assassination in 1995, Filber, then a law student, published a long article entitled "The theory of the blanks," in which he tried to establish that it was not a despicable murder by a right-winger, but rather a conspiracy involving leaders of the Israeli establishment and security circles.
Across four pages, Filber lays out an alternative explanation for the assassination: “The theory of the blanks offers a possible answer to all questions. It says that the murder was basically a Shin Bet work accident.
“The theory of the blanks assumes that those ranked above the Shin Bet might have been enticed to approve such a dangerous plan, due to the huge political windfall likely to result from such a drama for the prime minister and his party.”
Filber continues: "The theory states that something did not go as planned and at the last moment the killer changed either his weapon or his ammunition. According to this, after the murder, several people in the know did not realize that something had not gone as planned."
It must be pointed out that the article does not provide evidence that supports his theory.
Years after the article’s writing, Filber served as head of Netanyahu’s office during his first term as prime minister, then as vice-chairman and chairman of the Yesha Council. Later, he served as the secretary of Israel Railways’ Board of Directors. During the 2015 elections, he served as the head of the Likud’s Election Committee.
On Tuesday, Filber denied ever having believed in the conspiracy theory.
"I don’t believe, and even then I did not believed in a conspiracy theory. Yigal Amir assassinated Yitzhak Rabin due to various oversights of the Shin Bet that have been investigated," he said.
"In the atmosphere of incitement following the assassination and the collective blame placed on the general right-wing public and settlers in Yesha, and after rumors were spread about an instigating agent (Avishai 'Champagne' Raviv) placed among the settlers by the Shin Bet, the editor of Nekuda at the time, Uri Elitsur, decided to publish the article.
"Elitsur, who was a member of the Yesha Council, turned to me, a junior worker at Yesha Council, and asked me to put my name down as the author of the article, as he feared for his reputation as an editorialist. Due to my respect for Uri and my desire to help push back against the incitement against settlers, I agreed to accept authorship of the article in his place. Since then, I have clearly spoken out stating that that theory is absurd and illogical," Filber claimed.
Meanwhile, MK Erel Margalit (Zionist Union), turned to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, and asked him to disqualify Prime Minister Netanyahu from serving as the communications minister, a position that Netanyahu decided to keep, while appointing Likud MK Ofir Akunis as a minister in the Communications Ministry.
Margalit claims that Netanyahu is apparently embroiled in a conflict of interests. According to former, Netanyahu’s dismissal of Avi Berger, the director-general of the Communications Ministry, exposes Netanyahu’s interests in the sector.
“The way in which Berger was dismissed, the man who is leading the fight against Bezeq’s monopoly of the communications industry, increases suspicions regarding the intentions of the dismisser,” wrote Margalit. “Berger’s sudden dismissal was immediately beneficial for Bezeq, of which Walla! is a subsidiary, and this even led to an increase in the value of Bezeq’s share price in the Tel Aviv Stock Market."
