Woman Who Failed to Report Rabin Plot Begins Jail Term
RAMLE, Israel — Surrounded by supporters and her weeping parents, a woman convicted of failing to prevent the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin began a nine-month jail sentence Wednesday.
Margalit Har-Shefi, 25, a friend of Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir, repeated her claim of innocence as she entered a prison for women in central Israel.
“I did not know” about the planned assassination, she said. “Even prison can’t change the truth.”
Har-Shefi said she thought Amir, an ultranationalist, was only boasting and would not actually kill Rabin. But the Supreme Court ruled in a recent appeal that she knew about Amir’s two previous, abortive attempts to assassinate the prime minister--and knew he was going to try again.
Amir, who opposed Rabin’s peace policies with the Palestinians, shot him in November 1995 after a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Har-Shefi has said she had been made a scapegoat for the security service’s failure to protect Rabin.
Amir is serving a life sentence in solitary confinement. His brother Hagai is serving a 12-year sentence for complicity.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
