Israeli Attorney Yoram Sheftel, known as a dyed-in-the-wool rightwing activist who regularly pours torrents of ridicule and verbal abuse on most of Israel’s politicians, public servants, judges, and bicycle riders, has announced his new project: getting a pardon for Yigal Amir (Let Yigal Amir Go !!!), the man who murdered Israel’s prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 4, 1995.
Amir, 50, Amir was convicted and sentenced to life in prison and another six years for injuring a security guard. In another trial, he was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder, and after the state appealed the sentence it was increased to eight years in prison. All the sentences were cumulative.
On December 19, 2001, the Knesset, by a majority of 62 votes, approved the Yigal Amir Law, which prohibits a parole board from ever recommending pardon or shortening time in prison for the murderer of a Prime Minister.
Yoram Sheftel loves a challenge. In 1987, he was the defense attorney for John Demjanjuk, the notorious “Ivan the Terrible” from the Treblinka extermination camp, who was involved in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Defense attorney Sheftel argued there was an error in the identification of his client. A special panel of the Jerusalem District Court convicted Demjanjuk and sentenced him to death. Sheftel appealed to the Supreme Court and in 1993 the court ruled unanimously that Demjanjuk’s identification as “Ivan the Terrible” was questionable and therefore he was entitled to the benefit of a doubt.
Shaftel was attacked by a Holocaust survivor named Israel Yehezkeli, who sprayed him with concentrated hydrochloric acid that burned his face and seriously injured one eye. Yehezkeli was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine, and some half-expected Sheftel to serve as his defense attorney and get him acquitted.
Sheftel argues that Yigal Amir’s trial was extremely short and influenced by the public hysteria that was fanned by the media. As a result, he argues, it became a show trial. The defendant was not given an opportunity to explain his motives, and his lawyers were denied the practical opportunity to study the material and prepare properly.
Sheftel also challenges the concept of making a life sentence last a prisoner’s entire lifetime, which contradicts Israel’s legal tradition described and promoted by non-other than former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak.