The Israeli Cabinet has formally accepted the findings and recommendations of the three-member government panel charged with investigating the security lapses that made the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin possible.
At Sunday’s weekly meeting, the Cabinet also appointed a committee to oversee implementation of the Shamgar Commission’s recommendations.
In its findings, issues March 28, the panel concluded that Israeli security services had ignored information indicating that a Jewish militant might try to kill the prime minister.
The panel also found flaws in security planning for the Nov. 4 Tel Aviv peace rally at which Rabin was shot.
The commission held 61 meetings and heard 72 witnesses before publishing 214 pages of findings as well as a 118 page classified appendix dealing with the operational methods of the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, and police.
Among the panel’s recommendations was a call for the Shin Bet and Israeli police to cooperate more closely.
The Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported Sunday that the classified appendix also included a recommendation that the Shin Bet more closely supervise its operatives.
According to the report, the Shin Bet had asked Avishai Raviv, the head of a shadowy extremist group known as Eyal, to monitor Yigal Amir, the 25-year-old religious law students who was sentenced last week to life in prison for killing Rabin.
Ha’aretz reported that Amir’s name did not appear on a list of right-wing extremists being watched by the Shin Bet.
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