Answers to Prof. Plaut's "Answers"

Actually by Hillel Fendel and posted by Baruch Gordon [byline is hardcoded in acc. to one who posts]

Shalom.  Here are my answers to Prof. Plaut's answers.  The original questions in my article are in regular font, Prof. Plaut's are preceded by carets, and my answers are in italics.

How is it that an eye-witness to the event, Miriam Oren, was filmed at the site telling reporters emphatically and repeatedly, "I saw that Rabin was not hurt"?
>> Because she was wrong.
She was there, saw it happen, and said over and over that he was not hurt - but those who were not there say she was "wrong."  Maybe they have ruach hakodesh?

How did Rabin's armored car back door close?
>> Because someone inside closed it.
The Shamgar Commission found that only Rabin was in the back seat; Damti was getting into the car as the door closed on the other side, and guard Rubin was tending to Rabin. No one else was inside.

Why was the call, "Blanks, blanks!" heard when the shots rang out?
>> Because people who heard the shots thought at first they were blanks. This is not unusual near actual shootings.
It's not unusual for people who hear gunshots to start spouting off their opinions about whether they were blanks?!?  How many people do you know who know the difference between real shots and blanks - and would choose the shooting of a Prime Minister, of all times, to tell everyone?
On the other hand, it could be that if no one - including the target of the shots - was hurt, someone might conclude that it was blanks...

Why was the assassin not killed immediately?
>> Because he was wrestled to the ground. Since when are assassins killed on the spot in Israel?
Since forever, according to Shabak procedure.

The last three questions have been asked publicly by Rabin's daughter, former MK Dalia Rabin-Pilosoph?
>> No they were not.
Yes, they were.  I guess you didn't read the Olam HaIshah interview cited in the article.  I assume many of the other readers did.

>> The Rabin children "ask questions" designed to "prove" that the entire Israeli Right and especially the Likud were behind the murder. Claims that the Rabin children endorse the loony "conspiracy theory" about Peres ordering the Rabin assassination or about Rabin supposedly being killed by his own guard are complete fabrications by people with disturbed minds.
How can these questions possibly prove that the right-wing did it?  If you read what she said, you'll see that she does not endorse any conspiracy theory - I never implied otherwise - but rather that she is very bothered by some of the same questions that bother the "conspiracy nuts."

Why did then-Health Minister Dr. Ephraim Sneh say on television that that Rabin had been wounded by bullets to the chest, stomach, and spinal cord?
>> Because he thought that was so at the time, based on the hospital's preliminary superficial examination. He was wrong.
A 'preliminary superficial examination'? Do you really think the hospital would be anything less than 100% thorough in a case like this?  Three top doctors who operated him filled out their report that he was wounded to the chest! In addition, Sneh was speaking after Rabin was unsuccessfully operated on!  It was clear to them, and Hospital Director Barabash, and to Sneh, that the bullet entered the chest. Yet you know that Sneh was wrong?

Why did security guard Yoram Rubin testify before the Shamgar Commission that Rabin was shot at 9:50 PM, when in fact Yigal Amir was arrested at 9:30 PM?
>> Because he made a mistake, or had not looked at his watch or his watch was fast.
Yeah, right, people always walk around with a watch that's 20 minutes fast, or testify at a government commission about things they don't know...  I mean, if bloggers can write about things they don't know, then why should witnesses at a government commission be different?
By the way, the Shamgar commission concluded that the death was at 9:50...  Don't tell me you're siding with those lunatics who disagree with Shamgar?  (See also what you wrote in the next line)

Why did Rabin's driver, Menachem Damti, testify that he drove to Ichilov Hospital in less than two minutes, when the ride actually took over 20 minutes?
>> It did NOT take over 20 minutes. The admissions time stamp at the hospital was 20 minutes after the shooting, but hospital time stamps are not made as ambulances pull up, only later, as anyone who has ever been in the emergency ward knows.
Well, most of us have been in an emergency ward before, so tell us: Are the people in charge of writing down ambulance pull-up times supposed to be accurate, or is it OK if they fudge it by 20 minutes or so?
Anyway, as I wrote above, Shamgar concluded that the shooting happened at 9:50, so maybe you should "review your premises..."

Why did Damti testify that he was opening the door for Leah Rabin when he heard the first shot, when in fact Leah Rabin was standing on the steps nowhere near her husband when the shots were heard?
>> Because he made a mistake and because wives do not always stand right next to husbands.
This question did not appear in the final version of the article.

Why did Rabin's top aide Eitan Haber destroy evidence?
>> He did not. What he took was not evidence, if indeed he really took anything.
He said he did.  Should I believe him, or you?

Why did MDs say Rabin died of a shattered spine with bullet entry through the chest?
>> That was their initial guess and it was wrong. Same MDs later corrected their statement.
Four top doctors who were there make unanimous g u e s s e s  about the murder of a Prime Minister?!

Baruch Gladstein, proved categorically that one gun shot was fired into Rabin at point-blank range - about a half-meter closer than Amir ever got to Rabin?
>> Who says he "proved" that?
Again, you have to read the sources before you ask questions like that.  His proof is linked in the article.

>> And since when is a half meter not point blank range?
 Gladstein told Amir at Amir's trial, ”You placed the gun on his back on the second shot and fired." Amir said, "We need a new expert because I didn't shoot from point blank range."  This shows that the shots that the experts were analyzing were not shot by Amir.

Adir Zik believed there was a conspiracy?
>> Adir Zik was wrong.
Oh.

>> Yigal Amir confirms he murdered Rabin. There is no reason not to believe he did. 
Except for the questions in the article, and many more.

>> There is not a shred of real evidence to support any of the lunatic conspiracy "theories" that have been making the internet rounds ever since the assassination.  These "theories" are as mindless as the conspiracist claptrap popular on the web about Jews or Israel being behind the 911 attacks on the US.
or maybe as accurate as the conspiracies to kill Hitler, or Julius Ceasar, or Abraham Lincoln. I wonder if we'll ever find out? If you have your way, we certainly won't...

Answers to Hillel Fendel about Rabin Assassination

In a companion article on the Israel National News web site, Hillel Fendel asks some questions about the Rabin assassination. Here are the answers.

Answers to Questions:

How is it that an eye-witness to the event, Miriam Oren, was filmed at the site telling reporters emphatically and repeatedly, "I saw that Rabin was not hurt"?

>> Because she was wrong.

How did Rabin's armored car back door close?

>> Because someone inside closed it.

Why was the call, "Blanks, blanks!" heard when the shots rang out?

>> Because people who heard the shots thought at first they were blanks. This is not unusual near actual shootings.

Why was the assassin not killed immediately?

>> Because he was wrestled to the ground. Since when are assassins killed on the spot in Israel?

The last three questions have been asked publicly by Rabin's daughter, former MK Dalia Rabin-Pilosoph?

>> No they were not. The Rabin children "ask questions" designed to "prove" that the entire Israeli Right and especially the Likud were behind the murder. Claims that the Rabin children endorse the loony "conspiracy theory" about Peres ordering the Rabin assassination or about Rabin supposedly being killed by his own guard are complete fabrications by people with disturbed minds.

Why did then-Health Minister Dr. Ephraim Sneh say on television that that Rabin had been wounded by bullets to the chest, stomach, and spinal cord?

>> Because he thought that was so at the time, based on the hospital's preliminary superficial examination. He was wrong.

Why did security guard Yoram Rubin testify before the Shamgar Commission that Rabin was shot at 9:50 PM, when in fact Yigal Amir was arrested at 9:30 PM?

>> Because he made a mistake, or had not looked at his watch or his watch was fast.

Why did Rabin's driver, Menachem Damti, testify that he drove to Ichilov Hospital in less than two minutes, when the ride actually took over 20 minutes?

>> It did NOT take over 20 minutes. The admissions time stamp at the hospital was 20 minutes after the shooting, but hospital time stamps are not made as ambulances pull up, only later, as anyone who has ever been in the emergency ward knows.

Why did Damti testify that he was opening the door for Leah Rabin when he heard the first shot, when in fact Leah Rabin was standing on the steps nowhere near her husband when the shots were heard?

>> Huh?  Question makes no sense.

Why did Rabin's top aide Eitan Haber destroy evidence?

>> He did not. What he took was not evidence, if indeed he really took anything.

Why did MDs say Rabin died of a shattered spine with bullet entry through the chest?

>> That was their initial guess and it was wrong. Same MDs later corrected their statement.

Baruch Gladstein, proved categorically that one gun shot was fired into Rabin at point-blank range - about a half-meter closer than Amir ever got to Rabin?

>> Who says he "proved" that? And since when is a half meter not point blank range?

Adir Zik believed there was a conspiracy?

>> Adir Zik was wrong.

Yigal Amir confirms he murdered Rabin. There is no reason not to believe he did.  There is not a shred of real evidence to support any of the lunatic conspiracy "theories" that have been making the internet rounds ever since the assassination.  These "theories" are as mindless as the conspiracist claptrap popular on the web about Jews or Israel being behind the 911 attacks on the US.

Amir, The REAL assassin of Yitzhak Rabin

EHUD - The Banana Republic Song

Consign Barak back to the embers of irrelvancy

Based on a Jamaican folk song

EH HOOD, day EH EH HOOD
Ehud's done and we wan him go home
EH, he say EH, he say EH, he say EH, he say EH, he say EH-ay-ay-HOOD
Ehud's done and we wan him go home.

They shoots all night from ole Ramallah
(Ehud's done and we wan him go home)
As all thee night he dance Hizbollah

Come, Mr. Tally Mon, tally me election
Ehud's done and we wan him go home
Come, Mr. Tally Mon, tally the rejection
Ehud's done and we wan him go home.

A beautiful bunch a'ripe lemmingos
(Ehud's done and we wan him go home)
Dey Hide dee deadly black tanzinos
(Ehud's done and we wan him go home).

EH HOOD, day EH EH HOOD
Ehud's done and we wan him go home
EH, he say EH, he say EH, he say EH, he say EH, he say EH-ay-ay-HOOD
Ehud's done and we wan him go home.

Barak and Bosum Buddy:

On Recognizing the Humanity of the Enemy

A very interesting new display at the US Holocaust Museum's website features formerly unpublicized pictures of an unusual sort from Auschwitz. Among the images, taken from a scrapbook of one of the death camp's top functionaries, one can see SS officers, both men and women, and other camp "staff" laughing and having fun during their "down time."

In one image, they are hamming it up for the camera; in another they are sunning themselves in beach chairs; in a third they are enjoying blueberries as they listen to an accordionist.

SS officers having fun
US Holocaust Museum

SS at rest
US Holocaust Museum

As significant as these pictures are as documentary evidence to complete our picture of the horrific past, they only take on true import if we can learn something practical from them for the present.

I think the transcendent importance of these pictures to us, as Jewish Israelis, is in their potential to force us to understand something about the nature of our enemies. What I understand from these images is as follows:

Just because an experienced and veteran terrorist wears a suit, can be sophisticated at posh diplomatic meetings, or knows how to tell a good joke, or just because a resident of Gaza, Ramallah or Shechem seems to be a friendly guy and loves his children - all of that has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on his potential to be intent on murdering as many Jews as he can. In fact, under the right circumstances, he may be the one to literally tear apart a defenseless Jew unfortunate enough to fall into his hands (as happened in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority's "Beverly Hills," in 2000).

Smiling PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah)

That is what these pictures can teach us.

The Nazis were not aliens or monsters. They loved classical music, puppies, art, their children - and many were vegetarians, environmentalists; and some leading ones were "gay". So what?

That's what I have to say to those Israeli leftists who arrogantly claim that those of us on the Right can't see the humanity of the Arab enemy. They have it exactly backwards - it is they who can't see the humanity of the enemy. It is exactly the humanity of our enemies that makes them multifaceted, complicated beings - of whom one aspect is murderous, bloodthirsty, maniacal Jew-hatred.

PA police (Fatah), saluting

'They Want That There Will Be No More Jews Here'

A Saturday night entry by my fellow Arutz Sheva blogger Tzvi Fishman reminded me of the wisdom of children who receive an authentic Jewish education - and the idiocy of the adults who have taken leave of their own education and common sense.

In his latest blog entry, Fishman describes a meeting he had with the late Torah giant Rabbi Avraham Elkana Kahane Shapira. He asked Rabbi Shapira if it was permissible to relinquish parts of the Land of Israel to non-Jewish sovereignty. Fishman reports that the rabbi answered him by saying, "Why do you ask me such a question? Ask any six-year old in heder. He'll tell you the answer. You don't have to ask me."

Well, I happen to have a six-year-old child. She is not in heder, exactly, but she just started first grade in a religious public school. I didn't ask her to render a decision on the legality of concessions over the Land of Israel, but I did have an experience that led me to wonder if the country would not be better off run by Jewish six-year-olds.

Back before Rosh Hashanah, on September 11 actually, the President of the State of Israel, former Prime Minister, veteran of many Israeli governments, and a member of the nation's founding generation, Shimon Peres, made the following statement during a toast with foreign ambassadors to Israel. Referring to recent Palestinian Authority rocket attacks on Israeli towns in the Negev, Peres said:

"It makes no sense why they would continue to shoot at us despite the fact that we disengaged from the Gaza Strip."

Peres - internationally recognized statesman, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Israeli icon - just can't figure out why the Arabs in the PA continue to attack us after we concede to them land they claim they want from us for an Arab state. (This drove at least one frequent Arutz Sheva contributing columnist, Isaac Kohn, into a rage. You might want to read his take on our esteemed president after finishing up here.)

Well, it so happens that I was privileged to consult an authentic expert on Israel-Arab relations - my daughter. Did I mention that she is six years old?

She knew about the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Samaria from previous conversations we had after she'd seen some pictures of Israeli soldiers throwing other Israelis out of their homes. Those were some tough questions for someone raised to love and honor "our boys in uniform." I told her as diplomatically as possible that some people believe that taking Jews out of parts of the Land of Israel and handing it to the Arabs will make the Arabs stop trying to harm us and would hopefully bring peace.

However, living in Israel, it is almost impossible for her not to know that rockets continue to fall on our brethren in the south.

So, when I asked her why she thought the Arabs were still firing rockets on Jewish towns even after we "disengaged" from Gaza and northern Samaria, my daughter had an answer. It was as follows (paying attention, Mr. Peres?):

"Maybe they don't really want the Land of Israel, but they want that there will be no more Jews here."

Double bull's-eye, honey.

Rabbi Shapira, if there is an Internet connection (wireless, I bet) in your new celestial yeshiva and you happen to glance at Arutz Sheva, then I hope you see this post and smile.