Amir, Yigal (1970–)

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AMIR, YIGAL (1970–)

Convicted assassin of Yitzhak Rabin. Yigal Amir was born in 1970 to a Sephardic Yemenite family in Herzliya. He served in the Golani Brigade of the Israel Defense Force, then attended the law school of Bar-Ilan University. While a student there, Yigal was involved in right-wing demonstrations against the Oslo Accords. On 4 November 1995, following a demonstration in Tel Aviv in support of the peace process, Amir assassinated Prime Minister Rabin with three shots of a pistol. Apprehended at the scene of the crime, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. In a later trial, he was also convicted of conspiring to commit the murder with his brother Hagai and his friend Dror Adani. Amir expressed no regret for the murder of Rabin, claiming he killed the prime minister to halt the peace process.

SEE ALSO Bar-Ilan University;Rabin, Yitzhak.

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