Every once in a while I decide to follow or “friend” a right wing politician or group on Facebook and Twitter. You know, to see what they’re up to.
It’s not a big deal, I just press the button and – voila.
But for the past few days my cursor has been hovering ever so gracefully over the name of a certain person on Facebook: Hagai Amir, the brother of Yigal Amir, who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin.
Hagai recently got out of jail after serving 16 years on a conviction for helping his brother do the deed. One of the first things he did as a free man was open a Facebook account. He’s been posting every now and then excerpts of a diary he wrote while in prison. And sometimes he reacts to questions. For example, Chaim Levinson, the Haaretz correspondent on settlers, asked him if he knew Yigal was going that night to the square to kill Rabin. Hagai answered that he did, but didn’t think Yigal would succeed in doing it. Do I detect a bit of sibling rivalry?
But the one everybody was talking about a few days ago was an excerpt he posted that dealt with the Yemenite children affair, which Hagai claims Rabin took part in. Towards the end of the post he writes:
“I am proud that I took part in eliminating one of those who are responsible for these things and I’m sorry I can’t do more to bring people who were responsible for it…”
He was proud when he wrote it back then in 1996, and he’s proud today, when he posts it on Facebook.
Anyway, I pressed the button.
I’ll keep you posted if and when I become a friend of the brother of Rabin’s assassin.
Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence.
We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies.
This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza.
We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.
Can we count on your support ? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.
