Court Rejects Plea to Revoke Citizenship of Rabin’s Assassin

Israel’s High Court of Justice has ruled that Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin can vote in the May 29 national elections, saying that there was no clear law that calls for revoking this right.

Yigal Amir is serving a life sentence for fatally shooting the prime minister at a Nov. 4 peace rally in Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv resident Hila Alroy had petitioned the court to revoke Amir’s Israeli citizenship and his right to vote. Alroy said Amir had tried to undermine Israeli democracy by shooting Rabin.

But the court, led by Justice Aharon Barak, said the Knesset failed to set detailed criteria for denying the vote to an Israeli citizen and that removal of citizenship should be carried out only in extreme cases, such as treason.

Meanwhile, a public committee commissioned by Bar-Ilan University, where Amir was a student, concluded that the educational institution did not allow for an atmosphere that contributed to Amir’s decision to kill the prime minister.

The University Commissioned the independent panel after it was portrayed in the wake of the assassination as a hotbed of right-wing extremist activity.

In its report, the panel said it found no basis in claims that the school permitted an atmosphere of political extremism on campus, describing in instead as “cultured, quiet and relaxed.” The committee did recommend, however, that the university enforce regulations barring political activity on campus.

In a fund-raising pamphlet dedicated to the memory of Rabin and prepared by the American Friends of Bar-Ilan, Yigal Amir’s photograph appeared several times.

In connection with that blunder, the committee said the school administration must take practical steps to prevent such occurrences in the future.