Israeli PM rejects conspiracy claim in Rabin's assassination

Associated Press
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a joint statement with Steven Mnuchin during their meeting in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rejecting an Israeli professor's claim that the country's former leader Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated as part of a conspiracy and that his convicted killer is innocent.

Bar-Ilan University Professor Mordechai Kedar claimed on Tuesday at a rally in support of Netanyahu that Yigal Amir did not kill Rabin but that another gunman did, as part of a political conspiracy.

Amir was convicted in 1996 and is serving a life sentence for the November 1995 killing of Rabin, who spearheaded the peace process with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu, who was the opposition leader at the time, had been accused of inciting anti-Rabin sentiment ahead of the assassination.

Media quoted Netanyahu as condemning Kedar's "nonsense" about Amir on Wednesday. Bar-Ilan University said Kedar's views don't reflect the school's.