A panel of three Supreme Court justices rejected Margalit Har-Shefi\'s appeal this morning. She was convicted three years ago by the Tel Aviv District Court of not preventing the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by Yigal Amir. She later appealed both the verdict and the severity of the nine-month sentence. The three judges unanimously rejected the appeal of the verdict today, explaining themselves in a 90-page ruling. Two out of the three felt that the sentence was not too severe, and she is scheduled to enter prison next month.
After the decision, Har-Shefi told reporters that the ruling was a blood libel: \"Could any one have ever thought that a citizen, a Jew, an Israeli, would get up and murder the Prime Minister? Even those whose responsibility it was to protect his life did not do what today, after the event, seems to have been so obviously required. And I, only 20 years old, who in one terrible moment was thrown into the midst of a public, judicial, and media whirlpool, was turned into a symbol… I am being sent to prison for one reason only: they needed someone to blame. They found me, and acted as if it all happened because of me. This is a blood libel. If I would have thought for one moment that the Prime Minister would be murdered, I would have done everything I could to save him.\"
Uri Ariel, Mayor of Har-Shefi\'s home town of Beit El, where her uncle MK Benny Elon also lives, said, \"The Beit El family stands by Margalit Har-Shefi at this difficult hour.\"
After the decision, Har-Shefi told reporters that the ruling was a blood libel: \"Could any one have ever thought that a citizen, a Jew, an Israeli, would get up and murder the Prime Minister? Even those whose responsibility it was to protect his life did not do what today, after the event, seems to have been so obviously required. And I, only 20 years old, who in one terrible moment was thrown into the midst of a public, judicial, and media whirlpool, was turned into a symbol… I am being sent to prison for one reason only: they needed someone to blame. They found me, and acted as if it all happened because of me. This is a blood libel. If I would have thought for one moment that the Prime Minister would be murdered, I would have done everything I could to save him.\"
Uri Ariel, Mayor of Har-Shefi\'s home town of Beit El, where her uncle MK Benny Elon also lives, said, \"The Beit El family stands by Margalit Har-Shefi at this difficult hour.\"