Fury over Rabin killer TV interviews

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Two Israeli television channels have dropped plans to air full-length versions of telephone interviews they conducted with the man who assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

In the wake of a torrent of public criticism, Israeli broadcast channels 2 and 10 said they decided not to air the entire interviews each did this week with convicted killer Yigal Amir.

Both channels teased the interviews in their news broadcasts Thursday evening in advance of the upcoming 13th anniversary of Rabin's murder.

In the excerpt aired Thursday by Channel 10, Amir explained, in part, how the notion of killing Rabin came to him at a wedding he attended.

Amir said Rabin was one of the guests at the wedding. "He sat by the table with only a bodyguard next to him," Amir said. "If I were to shake his hand, I could have easily shot him. I was in eye contact with him; I was inside with a gun right next to him. I saw that it was easy, and I said to myself that I will regret not having killed him in a couple of years."

Amir also claimed he was influenced by rightist Israeli politicians Ariel Sharon, Rafael Eitan, and Rehavam Ze'evi -- "all those who understand the military; who said that the agreement (the Oslo Accords) would bring catastrophe. You do not need a rabbi for this."

The Israeli Prisons Authority said it was unaware that Amir had done the interviews, which require prior departmental permission. As a result, Amir has been moved to a higher-security prison where his phone calls, family visits, and conjugal visits have been revoked, according to a Prisons Authority spokesman.

On November 4, 1995, Amir shot Rabin as Rabin was leaving a rally in Tel Aviv in support of the Oslo Accords, which set out a plan for a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

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