The Yitzhak Rabin murder video (the Kempler video) is the seven and a half minute video made by Roni Kempler while standing on the roof of a building overlooking the scene at the Kings of Israel Square during the assassination of Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin on November 4th, 1995 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Yitzhak Rabin murder video revealed to the public
Almost two months after the Yitzhak Rabin assassination, Israelis were shocked to read in their newspapers that an amateur film of the event would be shown on Channel Two news. The filmmaker was announced as a "Polish tourist". However, this story changed the day of the broadcast. The filmmaker was, in fact, an Israeli named Roni Kempler.
Roni Kempler disappearing from the public discourse and returning on the Internet
In his sole television appearance the night his film was broadcast, Roni Kempler explained that he wasn't interested in making money. It was quickly discovered that Roni Kempler worked for the State Comptroller's Office and was a bodyguard in the Israeli army reserves. The Yitzhak Rabin murder video (the Kempler video) was shown on Israeli TV in its entirety two times in December 1996 and the name Roni Kempler was known world-wide. In the ensuing years the video is never shown in its entirety on Israeli TV, and the name Roni Kempler is never mentioned in the Israeli media. In July 2005 the video appeared on the web site Yigal Amir.com and has given the world its first opportunity to examine it in detail with the aid of computer technology.
Yitzhak Rabin murder video used to convict Yigal Amir
The Yitzhak Rabin murder video was used during the trial of convicted assassin Yigal Amir, the Shamgar Commision on the Yitzhak Rabin assassination and used for a brief period to convince the Israeli public that Yigal Amir did, in fact, commit the murder of Yitzhak Rabin.
Questions regarding Roni Kempler
A letter was published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv in January 1996 from Hannah Chen of Jerusalem in which Ms. Chen succinctly summarized some of the most blatant suspicions of Roni Kempler. The letter read: "Allow me to add my doubts about the strange facts surrounding the Yitzhak Rabin assassination. You want us to believe that Roni Kempler was a just a "regular guy" who happened to take a video of the assassination. At the beginning of the video Roni Kempler was in the "sterile" area and was requested to leave. So Roni leaves and goes to the roof of an adjacent building - the perfect place for an assassin. Of course there were security personal on the roof but those security personal let Roni Kempler go home with the most important piece of evidence that existed."
David Rutstein also gets involved
The viewing of the Yitzhak Rabin murder video (the Kempler video) in 1995 convinced various Israelis to write books on the Yitzhak Rabin murder conspiracy. But those various books did not seem to influence the Israeli establishment to pursue Yitzhak Rabin's true killers. In September 2005, David Rutstein returned to Israel after a 15 year hiatus from the country. Mr. David Rutstein noticed that Israeli TV, which dedicated the whole week to the life and death of Yitzhak Rabin, did not show the seven and a half minute video but just a few second clip of the murder itself and many Israelis did not know that the Yitzhak Rabin murder video even existed. That raised Mr. Rutstein's suspicion and he researched the Yitzhak Rabin murder on the internet and soon thereafter built the following web sites to bring the truth as to the true circumstances of the death of Yitzhak Rabin to the entire Israeli public. Subsequently, www.YitzhakRabin.co.il, www.YigalAmir.com, www.ShimonPeres.net were built in Hebrew and www.DavidRutstein.com was built in English. In July 2005, David Rutstein obtained the Yitzhak Rabin murder video and shows the video free of charge on his web sites.
Back passenger door of the limousine at 7:17
The event captured on the film that is the center-piece of doubts about the veracity of the Shamgar Commission is the back passenger door of Yitzhak Rabin's limousine that closes before Yitzhak Rabin enters the car. To almost everyone who watches that door close, it appears that someone, perhaps the murderer, may have been waiting in the limousine for Yitzhak Rabin. This is in direct contradiction to the official conclusion that Yitzhak Rabin entered an empty car. This occurs at 7:17 of the video as well as at 8:41 when repeated.
Video concentrates on Yigal Amir
But there is more on the Yitzhak Rabin murder video that contradicts the official findings. As the seven and a half minute video begins we notice that the video is concentrating on Yigal Amir as Mr. Yigal Amir is by himself in the sterile area near Yitzhak Rabin's limousine. Mr. Roni Kempler, when interviewed, said that he concentrated on Yigal Amir because of his suspicions. We also notice that two security officers strike up a conversation with Yigal Amir at 4:20 of the video.
Shimon Peres and the back passenger door
A few minutes later, Shimon Peres comes down the steps and walks towards the crowd at the barrier. He accepts their good wishes and walks to a spot about a meter and a half opposite the hood of Yitzhak Rabin's car. Shimon Peres is accompanied by four bodyguards. Shimon Peres stops, looks inside the back passenger door of the limousine and then speaks to the the bodyguards. Shimon Peres and the bodyguards together look into the back passenger door of the limousine.
At this point there is a cut. Suddenly Shimon Peres is talking to Yitzhak Rabin's driver, Menachem Damti. Shimon Peres speaks to Menachem Damti, the driver, and subsequently Damti, Shimon Peres and the bodyguards again look at the back passenger door of the limousine. We notice in the video that Menachem Damti's head is nodding from side to side to indicate that he disagrees with something said by Shimon Peres.
Yigal Amir pulls out the gun
Shimon Peres enters his car and Yitzhak Rabin descends the steps. The camera now concentrates on Yitzhak Rabin and we see the bodyguard at Yitzhak Rabin's rear clearly stopping. The rear bodyguard stopping creates an open space and allows Yigal Amir a clear shot at the Prime Minister. Yigal Amir draws his gun from deep inside his right pocket, circles a student reporter named Modi Yisrael, and shoots with his left arm. At this point we see a flash of one bullet, one loud "bang" and two softer bangs. After supposedly "taking" the first bullet in the back, Yitzhak Rabin turns his neck to see who shot him. The fuzziness or cuts of the video are obvious to even an untrained eye. At the time of the shooting Yigal Amir was somewhat of a shadow. According to the ballistic testimony at the trial Yitzhak Rabin was shot at a very close range. Yigal Amir was far away from Yitzhak Rabin so the video was "cut" to extend Yigal Amir's left arm to shoot. As well, Yigal Amir is right-handed and during the re-enactment of the shooting during the trial Yigal Amir reenacted the shooting with his right arm, not his left. The entire video becomes fuzzy for two seconds after the first shot and then the video quality returns to normal. The back passenger door of the limousine closes. Yitzhak Rabin, the driver and bodyguard enter the limousine from the driver's side and the limousine begins to travel. Soon thereafter the video stops.
Mistake that video was shown to the public
The most haunting moment of the video is the seconds before Yitzhak Rabin is placed in the car, the opposite back passenger door slams shut. This segment has been examined and tested by numerous journalists, every shadow on the screen traced, every possible explanation exhausted. It seems that someone was waiting inside the car for Yitzhak Rabin. The question arises "Why did they make this murder video if it's so incriminating?" One obvious answer may be that "they made a mistake." That may be the reason why the video is not shown or even mentioned on Israeli TV. Therefore, the majority of younger Israelis didn't even know the seven and a half minute Yitzhak Rabin murder video even exists. That is, until its sudden appearance last month and now it's the talk of the nation and soon the whole world as the Yitzhak Rabin assassination cover-up gets blown!
PART ONE OF THE Yitzhak Rabin murder video - Shimon Peres by Barry Chamish
1. Shimon Peres walks from steps to Ibn Gvirol street. All his bodyguards look forward. None guard his back or sides. They didn't want to alert Yigal Amir.
2. Shimon Peres leaves the crowd and speaks with Shabak security chief for the rally, Yuval Schwartz. Schwartz directs Shimon Peres to walk around Yitzhak Rabin's vehicle.
3. Shimon Peres takes a quick look into the back seat of Yitzhak Rabin's car and stops in front of the hood of the vehicle to the left. He takes a closer look into the back seat and orders his four bodyguards to do the same.
4. Shimon Peres and his bodyguards all stare into the back seat.
5. Driver Menachem Damti is called over from the opposite side of the car. On his way to Shimon Peres, the film is cut and he emerges standing beside Shimon Peres as if he had flown there.
6. Shimon Peres, still staring into the back seat, says a few words to Menachem Damti and Damti becomes very agitated, shaking his head vigorously from side to side.
7. Shimon Peres looks towards the steps and sees Yitzhak Rabin approaching his car. He walks to his own limousine, enters, closes the door and rides away.
PART TWO THE Yitzhak Rabin murder video - Yitzhak Rabin
1. Yitzhak Rabin walks with three bodyguards, towards the car. To his right is his personal bodyguard Yoram Rubin. Behind is a back bodyguard, to this day still unnamed. Both he and Rubin look at Yigal Amir, ahead and to their left, circled in the film.
2. As soon as he sees Yigal Amir, the back bodyguard stops in his tracks, turns around and abandons Yitzhak Rabin. Yitzhak Rabin is deliberately unprotected in the rear.
3. Yigal Amir draws his gun to shoot. No one pounces on him.
4. Yitzhak Rabin is a meter or less from the car as measured by the position of his feet. He passes Menachem Damti by the car windshield. Yigal Amir shoots and a 40 cm. blast is emitted from his gun. Shamgar concluded that Yigal Amir shot from 50 cm. range but the police lab determined that the actual range was 0.
5. Yitzhak Rabin is shot in his upper back, where doctors reported his spine was shattered.
6. Yitzhak Rabin turns his head around to hear were the noise is coming from. Clearly his spine is intact.
7. The film is cut and Yitzhak Rabin emerges from the cut two steps forward and out as measured by the position of his feet. Yoram Rubin stands beside him to the right. Yigal Amir has been arrested and is no longer behind Yitzhak Rabin. At this point, the main conclusion of the Shamgar Commission is proven wrong. Shamgar concluded that Yoram Rubin jumped on Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Amir shot them both from above. Yoram Rubin is, in fact, standing beside Yitzhak Rabin after Yigal Amir is arrested.
8. All witnesses see that Yitzhak Rabin is not shot from point blank range, nor from the front as the police and hospital will later determine. Yitzhak Rabin continues to walk.
9. The film is cut and a shot heard but not seen. Yitzhak Rabin emerges opposite the left passenger door. He has walked some five steps since being first "shot." Yoram Rubin finally jumps on him. Driver, Damti tends to Rubin and Yitzhak Rabin. Therefore, all three people who Shamgar concluded were alone in the car, are outside the vehicle.
10. So who closed the back right passenger door from inside the car?
Now that you have seen the Yitzhak Rabin murder video (the Kempler video), you know the truth!
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.