Inside testimony – a captivating historical document on the intelligence picture held by Israel’s General Security Service in the days preceding the murder
“The public atmosphere is one of bloodletting, vituperation, and inflamed passions. A person, not necessarily known, not necessarily a settler, may rise and do something. We are marking potential risk factors based on expressions or on assessments. We make lists and albums of risk factors. I am absolutely worried. I believe that the atmosphere may produce assassins who are currently unknown to us.”
These words were spoken by Hezi Kalo, then head of the non-Arab division of the Israeli General Security Service, at a special meeting dealing with the assessment of threats upon then-Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, three weeks before Rabin’s murder on November 4th, 1995.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, may his memory be a blessing, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for 1994, was murdered by a religious Israeli Jew named Yigal Amir, who opposed the Oslo Accords and decided to murder the Prime Minister in order to stop the peace process.
Over 25 years after the murder, Kalo returns to the horrible period preceding the murder, to the precedents and the incitement that enabled it, and the dozens of reports by Israeli intelligence services, chief among them the GSS, revealed for the first time in the book A Mandate For Murder, teaching us across time how many warnings were given – and how few were heeded in practice.
In this book, the head of the non-Arab division of Israel’s General Security Service offers his version of the events surrounding the murder for the very first time. Kalo, who as head of the division carried a General-equivalent rank, touches upon the raw nerves and the exposed underbelly of Israeli society, discussing on the issues that roiled the public in the days preceding the murder of Prime Minister Rabin – from the deployment of undercover agent Avishay Raviv (“Champagne”) by the General Security Service, to covert operations taken by intelligence and security agencies, which were supposed to prevent the worst from happening – but failed to do so.
Please find a link to two chapters from the book.:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QE4uO_yzyNOTFwy15I2Eg9G5JdxfdlOx/view?usp=sharing
A Mandate For Murder is available for purchase on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Mandate-Murder-Officer-Political-Assassination-ebook/dp/B0BQJQTR2Y/
3.99$ kindle:
Paperback: 14.99$
Hezi Kalo
Hezi Kalo worked for the Israeli General Security Service for twenty-five years, rising in the ranks to the position of Division Head, equivalent to a military General. There, he served as the head of the Non-Arab Division, a position he held before and in the aftermath of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Haifa and Graduated cum laude from the National Security College.
Kalo has also worked as Deputy Director General for Clalit health services – the largest civilian employer in Israel at the time – and Director General of the Bank of Israel.
He is married to Aliza, and they have three children and nine grandchildren.
From the Author
This book was written with the knowledge that in several years' time, history could be rewritten by deniers, whose actions might legitimize another murder.
For 26 years I've waited, until my work in the public sector was done, so I could document those events in our history. Through the years, false narratives arose surrounding the circumstances of the murder.
I am afraid that with time, next generations might not know who Yitzhak Rabin was, and why a prime minister was murdered in Israel. History is being rewritten, with precious few left to face the crashing waves. In this era of information, where fact and fiction seem to mix more easily, this book is a paramount cornerstone of democracy.
It describes, in detail, the events documented in real time, without missing a thing - for better and for worse. There are difficult questions surrounding intelligence operations and counteractions committed before the murder, which I tried answering as truthfully as I could.
To coordinate interviews with author Hezi Kalo, please contact:
Merav Lapidot, CEO
Lapidot communications & strategy
merav@goldfinger-lapidot.com
Contact Details
Lapidot communications & strategy
MERAV LAPIDOT
