If Israel is to find itself through all this soul-searching, and if its need for a secure existence is to be met, however, it is looking in far the wrong places. The left-wing establishment has known no greater joy in the past three years than dividing the people against itself, and then further widening this division at every opportunity. Israel's Jewish population, ever the crafty sort, showed every sign of surviving these divisions, and coming out the stronger for it. So when opportunities for division quickly dried up, the left-wing establishment decided to create opportunities of their own where none existed.
Throughout the tenure of Prime Minister Rabin, he stacked the offices of the General Security Service, the IDF General Staff, and other security and intelligence services with people of his own choosing who were, shall we say, ill-disposed toward the religious and nationalist communities in Israel. Pioneers in Israel, instead of being recognized for the brave and even heroic people they are, were instead villified in the media by government officials, and relegated to the lowest priority by the security services. Protecting villages in towns in Judea and Samaria was now seen as a chore to be avoided rather than the ultimate fulfilment of the Zionist drive. The Hashomer guards of the 1920's and 1930's turned over in their graves.
The move to denigrate and isolate the towns and villages was a calculated part of a larger campaign to divide the people of Israel against itself. By stuffing the security services with personnel belonging to the anti-religious "diet Israel" camp, the Ministry of Defense ensured that the divisions the government set out to create became more solidly based. It was then hoped that through all the confusion caused by such deep and fundamental divisions, the government could offer a light of hope by pointing the way to peace, or at least its conception of peace.
What the Minister of Defense failed to comprehend, and what ultimately cost him his life, is that when such divisions are artificially sown into the fabric of a nation, that fabric will rend itself to the highest levels. Policies that are put in place with limited aims often have a way of acquiring lives of their own and wreaking damage far beyond that which was intended. This is precisely what happened with the plan of the General Security Service to create further divisions in the nation.
In 1992, the GSS hired a young man to act as a covert operative in Russia. He was sent there and stayed for three months, doing his job. He was then let go from the GSS and began his pursuit of a university education. After this man left the GSS, they noticed a small group of opposition activists holding demonstrations and chanting slogans. Seeing that this group, Eyal, was based at Bar Ilan University, which is a religious institution, the GSS decided that they provided a perfect opportunity to inflict serious damage on the right-wing opposition in Israel.
So the GSS sent in Avishai Raviv. Raviv was a GSS informant, planted in Eyal with a simple job. He was to rise up within the ranks of the small organization and take it so far to the right fringe that the GSS and the government could use them to discredit the entire opposition. The GSS provided Raviv with the tools that would be necessary to accomplish this goal. Those tools included posters portraying Rabin in a Nazi uniform, now a favourite target of the government as an example of the "incitement of the right".
Suppose more of these tools were the arms caches which are now suddenly being discovered all over the country. Where were they before the assassination, unless they were for the use of Raviv in taking Eyal to the right fringe?
In the following three years, Raviv managed to rise until he was the number-two man in Eyal, and their spokesman. His name became well known through the Israeli media especially in the six months before Rabin's assassination. When an Arab killed another Arab in Halhoul, the government decided to put the final plan into action. They placed the blame for the killing on "Jewish extremists", and sent the signal to the GSS to activate their plant. Raviv immediately went public claiming responsibility on behalf of Eyal for the murder. It was only due to the unwitting truthfulness of the dead man's family -- they refused to co-operate with the IDF investigation -- that eventually led to the confirmation that it had in fact been an Arab that had committed the murder. The media, and the Israeli left, including just about every member of the government, had a field day with this story. Even after it was proven that Eyal did not take part in this murder, the left still accused the right of murder, and wasted no opportunity to discredit them. (See my previous article, "In Support of Murder".)
That Raviv was so quick to claim responsibility should have made other members of Eyal suspicious. But he had surrounded himself with other members and former members of the GSS who knew the real story behind the incident and kept it to themselves. One such former member was the same young man who had served so admirably in Russia three years before.
After the incident in Halhoul, and the botched Eyal conspiracy surrounding it had died down a bit, it was time for the coup de grace. At this point, it is questionable whether the GSS still had control over their informant. At the very least, he was still in touch with them about his activities, as will be seen in a moment.
The GSS had so far been unsuccessful in discrediting the opposition in Israel. The government was approaching an election year, and was being booed off the stage by the Israeli public. Opposition demonstrations and civil disobedience in Israel were gaining such widespread support among the people that clearly something major had to be done to turn the tide.
So, a few well-meaning supporters of the government, led by a former Mayor of Tel Aviv, decided to plan a rally in support of the government. It was meant to be a love-in to show Israel that most people were still behind the government. They planned music, a few speeches, and even a singing Prime Minister. And of course, with the opportunity presented so clearly, the GSS-stacked Eyal group couldn't miss this chance.
But they had to do it right. Someone who could not be traced directly to the GSS had to be used. Someone with a shady enough history that he just might fit. Someone religious, so that the campaign of discrediting them along with the right could continue and grow more ferocious. They chose as their man someone who had the experience of living in turmoil, who had been abroad under difficult circumstances. They chose the young man who had served in Russia. They chose Yigal Amir.