Avishai Raviv

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avishai Raviv was a member of Israel's Shin Bet or Shabak, Israel's Secret Police, as part of the Shabak Jewish Section, a controversial section of the Shabak that is used to monitor Jewish opponents of Israeli government activities.

Avishai Raviv, was a paid agent of Israel's Shabak charged with the mission of perpetrating acts of "right-wing Zionist violence" which the government and media could blame on their right-wing opponents. Raviv deliberately made outlandish statements at many demonstrations, engaged in random acts of violence as the leader of a "goon squad," produced deliberately counterproductive propaganda against the regime of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and even assisted an Israeli television reporter, later exposed as a Shabak agent himself, to produce a video for Israeli television purporting to show the initiation ritual of a "secret right-wing Zionist assassination gang" - a video played repeatedly by the Israeli media without any question as to its source or authenticity.

One of Avishai Raviv's most infamous creations was a T-shirt bearing an image of late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin dressed as a Nazi SS officer - an image which was used by the Israeli government and media to claim right-wing Jews were "inciting violence" against Rabin and other advocates of land for peace. To this day, despite the Shabak's admission in sworn testimony before an Israeli government commission, the Shamgar Commission, appointed to investigate the Rabin assassination, that its agent Raviv was responsible for the poster, the Israeli media still regularly assigns the blame to right-wing Jews. (Jerusalem Post May 22, 1997, "Slander and Libel from the Left" Uri Dan)

Immediately following the Oslo accords Yigal Amir began organizing demonstrations against the accords. Avishai Raviv was an older man with great influence over Yigal Amir. (Jerusalem Post May 22, 1997, "Slander and Libel from the Left" Uri Dan) Raviv encouraged Yigal Amir to kill Rabin arguing that the Torah commands the death of any Jew who surrenders Jewish land to Goyim. (Jerusalem Post May 22, 1997, "Slander and Libel from the Left" Uri Dan) He supported this claim with sources such as Shulchan Aruch HaRav volume VI, which states "If a Jew gives up the land of other Jews to Goyim, and he persists in this, that is he gives up the land of three or more Jews, he is a Rodef". (Jerusalem Post May 22, 1997, "Slander and Libel from the Left" Uri Dan) (Literally pursuer, as in a man is pursuing you to kill you so you must kill the man first) in Jewish law, as well as many sources in Rabbinic literature forbidding Goyim from even owning any part of Eretz Yisrael. "Be a man! Kill him already!" Raviv told Amir in front of numerous witnesses on many occasions.(Jerusalem Post May 22, 1997, "Slander and Libel from the Left" Uri Dan)

After Rabin was assassinated the mainstream Israeli media tried to blame many on the right-wing for the killing. In particular blame was placed on Adir Zik, an Israeli reporter know for his religious and nationalistic views. Adir Zik launched his own investigation into the killings and discovered that Raviv was a paid agent of the Shabak.

Raviv was eventually put on trial in the year 2000 for not preventing the assassination of Rabin. But Raviv mounted a successful defense on the grounds that he had just been doing his job as a member of the Shabak, to encourage acts of right-wing extremism, and that events had gotten out of hand beyond his control.