Israeli police have stepped up the investigation into whether some rabbis issued a religious ruling allowing for the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Police investigators have questioned two rabbis suspected of issuing religious justification for the Nov. 4 assassination.
The rabbis were identified as Shmuel Dvir, from the Gush Etzion block in the West Bank, and David Kav, who taught at a yeshiva attended by confessed assassin Yigal Amir.
The two, questioned by police Sunday, were reportedly the first of several rabbis to be interrogated this week.
One suspect arrested in connection with the killing said Amir had asked him to get rabbinical permission for the assassination.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court extended by three days the detention of a minor accused of printing posters that depicted Rabin in a Gestapo uniform. The posters were distributed at an opposition rally about a month before the slaying.
The inflammatory posters, along with public statements that Rabin was responsible for the deaths of Israelis because of his peace policies, have been cited as contributing to a public atmosphere that made the assassination possible.
The 16-year-old suspect, who was not identified because of his age, expressed remorse for his actions during the hearing, according to Israel Radio.
In another development, the Petach Tikvah Magistrates Court extended the detention of Margalit Har-Shefi, a 21-year-old woman believed to have known about Amir’s plans to kill Rabin.
Har-Shefi is one of nine people who have been detained by police after being accused of taking part in an alleged plot to kill Rabin.
Amir has repeatedly maintained that he acted alone.
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