Yes, There Was a Conspiracy
By
Israel Harel

We knew the truth, but, because we are so gullible, we managed to persuade ourselves that it just could not be so, that there could never have been a conspiracy. "Solid Israelis" - and we have always considered ourselves to belong to that category - do not believe in conspiracies. However, over the past few weeks - that is, ever since "the document" confirmed our worst fears, we are gradually parting company with the image (the self-image, that is) of the "solid Israeli." From now on, files will be kept on us as well.

This transition from suspicion to certainty was caused by those who sought to hush up things and to store any troublesome documents in the archives, and I am referring especially to the state prosecution and the Shin Bet internal security service. Another element that brought about this transition was the sad fact that many of the watchdogs of democracy - particularly those who fought, at the very risk of life and limb, to expose the truth concerning the Route 300 bus affair - stood by in silence and, what is even worse, are the leading figures in the attempt to conceal the facts.

Yes, there was a conspiracy. No, not a conspiracy to assassinate Yitzhak Rabin, but rather a conspiracy to perform the character assassination of the ideological and political right. It was a conspiracy to present the members of that camp as a gang of hoodlums, eccentrics and saber-rattlers intent upon generating friction between Jew and Arab and between Jews. It was a conspiracy to depict the central figures in that camp as individuals who do not deserve to be political leaders. It was a conspiracy to persuade the Israeli public that the settlers are all hotheads and that they all look, think and act as Avishai Raviv and his runny-nosed collaborators looked, thought and acted at the notorious initiation ceremony. After all, that is the way the settlers were presented in the press, although the print journalists, like their counterparts in Israel Television's Channel One, knew that this ceremony and many of the other violent events had been staged.

The character assassination of the right, and especially the character assassination of the settlers, before the Rabin murder and - most important - after the shots were fired, constitute the real conspiracy, and
apparently the only one. The first segment of that conspiracy was planned and executed by none other than the members of the Shin Bet. This fact has been and is continuing to be covered up by the state prosecution and a large portion of the media.

The attorney-general attempted to prevent the exposure of the document attesting to the cover-up for and license given to acts of provocation (including those that took place in close proximity to Bar-Ilan University!). Even the justices of the High Court of Justice, the colleagues of Dorit Beinisch, were forced to censure him for doing so. The "threat to our national security" argument was recruited to provide immunity to an entire professional, social and ideological stratum that had been party to the concealment of the truth and to the granting of judicial backing to thoroughly abhorrent acts.

Raviv was connected primarily with the conspiracy, but not with the intelligence work. For intelligence work, you need people who inspire confidence, who have stable personalities. An arrogant individual, Raviv was rejected, because of his personality, by one community after another. Curiously, that fact actually helped him play the role he had been assigned: The mudslinger whose targets were those in whose vicinity he dwelt (and he moved from place to place within a short period of time). The state-run television channel and most of the country's print journalists knew precisely who Raviv was. But they were not particularly interested in preventing him from delegitimizing the right. It is not surprising that, after a lengthy smear campaign, it proved no problem to blame him, and to blame an entire population, for the Rabin assassination.

In a properly functioning democracy, the three persons referred to in this
document should have resigned long ago. However, Beinisch will continue to sit on the Supreme Court bench. In the course of time and given her age, seniority and st, she will oday be the Chief Justice in this august body. Jerusalem District Attorney Moshe Lador, who wanted to close the file on Raviv on the persuasive grounds that the matter was "of no interest to the general public," is now being mentioned as the probable candidate for Edna Arbel's post. Arbel will almost certainly become the third woman to sit on the Supreme Court bench. Among all the members of the band that specialized in provocations and conspiracy, the Shin Bet operative who actually handled Raviv is the only person who has stayed on at that agency and who has actually been promoted to a more senior role there. Many Israelis are unable to understand why this trio is still holding its own.

Admittedly, the "document" presents no new evidence. However, its chief importance is the fact that it proves what so many wanted desperately to know - about themselves, about the state prosecution and about the internal security service of this country. And this knowledge is heavy-weight material. Just as we have learned who Raviv (code name "Champagne") was and what actions the state prosecution has taken, we will learn the details concerning additional acts of provocation - despite the fact that the media is going out of its way to ignore the Raviv trial.

The hushing up of this affair will not bury it. As long as members of the camp that was the target of the conspiracy continue to struggle against this travesty of justice and against a judicial system that covers up the actions of those who slander others and who hide evidence, they will not
rest until justice is done. They will never rest until they have effectively dealt with this gross insult, with this degradation, with this blood libel, because the culture of remembrance is an integral component in the structure of their lives. It would be a good idea if this point is engraved in the memory of all those who continue to back unjust deeds and to prevent the truth from being heard and all those who act wickedly and yet expect a reward for their actions.