Yigal Amir

Yigal Amir was born in 1970 in Herzliya

Yigal Amir was born in Herzliya to an Orthodox Jewish family of Yemenite origin. His father Shlomo was a scribe and his mother Geula was a kindergarten teacher. He studied at the Wolfsohn School in Herzliya and at the Hayishuv Hahadash yeshiva in Tel Aviv.

After school he joined the Hesder program at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh and served in the Golani Brigade. In 1993 he taught Judaism in Riga, Latvia, through Nativ. He then studied law at Bar-Ilan University.

Amir opposed the Oslo Accords and took part in protests and settler activity, including in Hebron. In 1995 he tried 3 times to kill Rabin, but the plans fell through. On November 4, 1995, after a peace rally in Tel Aviv, he shot Rabin, who died in the hospital, and wounded the guard Yoram Rubin.

In 1996 he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison plus 6 years for injuring Rubin. In a later case he received 8 years for conspiracy with his brother Hagai and Dror Adani. In 2001 the Knesset passed a law that bars the parole board from recommending a shorter term for a prime minister's murderer.

He was held for years in isolation under camera watch. In 2006 he moved to Rimonim Prison, and in 2012 he was placed with other prisoners.