The Trump administration on Friday released some 10,000 FBI documents dealing with the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a month after releasing documents about the assassination of his brother, President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Among the documents made public was a bizarre account connected to Israel. According to the FBI reports, a group of American tourists was on a visit to Israel one month before Bobby Kennedy was shot. One member of the group said he was told by their tour guide that the then-presidential candidate was murdered in Milwaukee, and another said Kennedy was assassinated in Nebraska. The assassination ultimately took place in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968.
The unusual reports raised alerts at the FBI headquarters and within hours, agents were sent to interview the tourists. According to the newly unsealed documents, the agents concluded that there was no evidence that anyone had advance knowledge or access to secret information about the assassination.
Kennedy, who was a New York senator, the former U.S. attorney general and a presidential candidate, was speaking at a Democratic campaign event in California moments before he was shot by Jerusalem-born Sirhan Sirhan, a Christian Palestinian from Jordan who emigrated to the United States in 1957.
The FBI documents shed new light on his anti-Zionist motives. He is described by the FBI and an extreme supporter of Palestinian rights and had written in his journal that he became completely obsessed with the idea of murdering Kennedy, writing "RFK must die” and “RFK must be killed.”
According to his own testimony, one of the reasons that ignited his "uncontrollable rage" was a story about the Miracle March for Israel, a parade held in Los Angeles on May 26, 1968—one week before the assassination. He also said he was enraged when he passed by the sign of a Jewish organization in a hotel lobby. A newspaper clipping about the pro-Israel event was found in his pocket when he was arrested.
Sirhan used to follow the B’nai B’rith Messenger obsessively, copying quotes and sections into his notes. He said reading the paper served as a daily reminder of the Zionist "enemy, which he saw as a destructive global threat."
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After the assassination, he told interrogators that Kennedy supported Israel and he had no choice. Leading them to conclude that Kennedy's support for the state and his promise to provide security assistance were the reasons for his assassination.
Sirhan later denied his earlier remarks but said he was willing to die for Palestine. He is 81 years old and serving a life sentence in jail. His requests for an early release have been denied and the prosecution claims he still does not exhibit an understanding of his real motives.