AVISHAI RAVIV...TODAY

AVISHAI RAVIV...TODAY
By Emanuel A. Winston
Middle East Analyst & Commentator

The only reason that we know about Avishai Raviv is that Yigal Amir had a relationship with this agent provacateur. Until the time of the assassination Raviv was an unknown - except to the GSS (Israel's Secret Service) and its head, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Emerging information indicates that both Amir and Raviv were merely small bit players with more important figures in the shadows. The real story is yet to surface. But, the expos of the Shamgar Report's secret annex reveals that Yitzhak Rabin bore ministerial responsibility for the "incitement" leading to his own assassination.

Since there is no longer any doubt that the GSS, with PM Rabin's knowledge, was running Raviv as an agent provacateur, presumably that are numerous other agents also assigned to penetrate and provoke the so-called extreme Right. This operation was ordered under Rabin and Peres, reflecting the views of a Leftist Labor government. The only possible reason for setting up such a macabre operation was to destroy any efforts by the Right to halt the failing agreement called Oslo.

Raviv is being cast as an out-of-control agent, operating on his own, who conducted a personal campaign to show the political Right were radical, but the facts speak otherwise. If the GSS, under the direct command of Prime Minister Rabin was playing only one man (Raviv), the effort would have been marginal at best. Clearly, if the Right was to be cast in the role of spoiler, Rabin and the GSS would need many more agents provocateurs who are doubtlessly still operating under deep cover.

The Shamgar Commission explicitly avoided questioning the GSS about other agents tasked to discredit the Right. Then there are the political considerations. With dropping polls showing him as a no-win liability for the coming elections, who in the Labor Party would want Rabin out?

From Rabin's point of view a dramatic but unsuccessful assassination attempt on his life would increase his lagging position in the polls. This would focus all the nation with him and against the danger he faced from a supposedly out-of-control Right, bringing back the image of the hero defying danger. It was a political gamble but not too surprising, given past incidents in Israeli politics.

Then there would be another view and other interests. Who would like to see a staged fake assassination attempt turn real? Who would benefit politically? Obviously, those involved at the highest levels of the GSS and the Labor Party should have been questioned. Or were they supposed to get away with murder?

Assuredly, the GSS would never, on its own, agree to assassinate the Prime Minister. But, if its bosses were convinced by the Labor politicians that Rabin was moving toward a level of perceived incompetence as Oslo was failing and would thereby lose the election, they could have considered removing Rabin - "For the Good of the Nation".

Remember the political Left were already engaged in a covert black operation, to insure that no politically Right candidate would become Prime Minister. Remember there was a major concurrent operation underway by President Clinton and the State Department to place Shimon Peres in office if they could not have Rabin. Would the sacrifice of one man stand in the way of a US foreign policy dedicated to Oslo and keeping Arab oil nations placated by a diminished Israel?

Remember that most of the Arab nations, including especially the PLO backed by the US were relying on the Labor Party to be re-elected and complete all the concessions. For all of them It was vital to have Rabin in the PM's office and, if not him, then Shimon Peres, because both were dedicated to a total withdrawal from the territories, the Golan Heights and significant parts of Jerusalem.

Assassination of a failing leader in order to keep control of the levers of power is not new nor surprising. Keeping power is not merely a goal, it is the only goal. Ultra-Leftists like Yossi Sarid who sat on the Knesset Intelligence Committee pressured Shamgar NOT to release the true and complete findings of the Shamgar Commission in real time. What then were these pacifists hiding? Why did the Shamgar Commission go along?

Regretably, Shamgar didn't protest his being used for his reputation and credibility as a mask for who may have really precipitated the assassination of Rabin. To protect his reputation as an honest judge, he must either suppress his full report or lie. It seems (or it was made to seem) as if Yigal Amir was provoked by Raviv into being the instrument of what was supposed to be a fake assassination with blank bullets. Putting live rounds in his gun which he thought held only blanks was really not too difficult. More and more information is oozing out about a shooting that may actually have been elaborately staged. This now must be re-investigated by a panel who will not shield any government officials and will not ignore any of the facts for "the Good of the Nation".

I wouldn't be surprised to see Yigal Amir killed in prison or Raviv disappear with no trace or body to be found. Both became a liability for those who operated at the highest levels of government and the GSS. There are thousands of unanswered questions and here are a few:

Are dozens of Ravivs tasked to be agent provocateurs roaming Israel, creating havoc to smear the Right?

What other staged incidents have they already caused in the operation to cast the Right as radicals?

Why was only the Right targeted when the Left was also known for its own radicals?
Was the GSS the only intelligence agency tasked to stain the Right or were other agencies also involved?

Were there other military groups who were assigned by the Rabin/Peres Prime Ministry to conduct their own operations either within the army or against civilians? (Many recall the beatings of elderly and even children when they protested Rabin-Peres-Beilin policies.) We also recall the pre-election ads by military officers who had a Leftist orientation and who supported Labor.

Moshe Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett were convicted "Sedition" because they were effective leaders in mobilizing the public to depose Rabin and Peres in order to protest Oslo. This was intended to remove the protest leaders in anticipation of a withdrawal on all fronts in what would be called the "Final Settlement".

We observed the courts and its judiciary conduct itself under the Rabin/Peres government in a way that indicated political bias against the political Right. Here, too, the trail leads back to a Labor government determined to carry out Oslo no matter what. It would appear that collusion was orchestrated on a massive scale by a Labor government linked to foreign governments who paid for obedience. The US is believed to have funneled considerable amounts of money into the Labor Party to insure that it would win the elections and continue Oslo no matter what its failings. Rabin was dropping in popularity as the nation reeled from PLO killings. Oslo was growing less popular by the day and Netanyahu's star was rising steadily. The US desperately needed Labor to continue Oslo no matter what the cost. Perhaps Rabin was selected to pay that price because Israel's capitulation under the terms of Oslo was more important than the life of one man.

This is just in from the Israeli newspaper Hatzofeh: Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein has decided NOT to re-open criminal files against Avishai Raviv that were closed while he was a GSS agent. Let us remember that Rubenstein himself has a background worth noting. When he was employed under Rabin and Peres, he was reportedly the man in the Washington Embassy who turned away Jonathan and Anne Pollard.

As PM Netanyahu's Attorney General, he issued the indictment against Moshe Feiglin and Shmuel Sackett asking for a 10 year sentence on the spurious charge of Sedition.

Clearly, the coverup of Avishai Raviv's activities and his association with various Israeli government administrations and high level party officials on both sides goes on. To protect whom?