The Yitzhak Rabin Murder Video (the Kempler Video)

The Yitzhak Rabin Murder Video (the Kempler Video)
By David Ben-Ariel

Read this, then watch the Kempler video, and then read this again for a better understanding of it all.

The Kempler Video of Yitzhak Rabin Assassination is the seven and a half minute video made by Roni Kempler while standing on the roof of a building overlooking the scene at the Kings of Israel Square during the assassination of Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin on November 4th, 1995 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Yitzhak Rabin murder video revealed to the public

Almost two months after the Yitzhak Rabin assassination, Israelis were shocked to read in their newspapers that an amateur film of the event would be shown on Channel Two news. The filmmaker was announced as a "Polish tourist". However, this story changed the day of the broadcast. The filmmaker was, in fact, an Israeli named Roni Kempler.

Roni Kempler disappearing from the public discourse and returning on the Internet

In his sole television appearance the night his film was broadcast, Roni Kempler explained that he wasn't interested in making money. It was quickly discovered that Roni Kempler worked for the State Comptroller's Office and was a bodyguard in the Israeli army reserves. The Yitzhak Rabin murder video (the Kempler video) was shown on Israeli TV in its entirety two times in December 1996 and the name Roni Kempler was known world-wide. In the ensuing years the video is never shown in its entirety on Israeli TV, and the name Roni Kempler is never mentioned in the Israeli media. In July 2005 the video appeared on the web site Yigal Amir.com and has given the world its first opportunity to examine it in detail with the aid of computer technology.

Yitzhak Rabin murder video used to convict Yigal Amir

The Yitzhak Rabin murder video was used during the trial of convicted assassin Yigal Amir, the Shamgar Commision on the Yitzhak Rabin assassination and used for a brief period to convince the Israeli public that Yigal Amir did, in fact, commit the murder of Yitzhak Rabin.

Questions regarding Roni Kempler

A letter was published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv in January 1996 from Hannah Chen of Jerusalem in which Ms. Chen succinctly summarized some of the most blatant suspicions of Roni Kempler. The letter read: "Allow me to add my doubts about the strange facts surrounding the Yitzhak Rabin assassination. You want us to believe that Roni Kempler was a just a "regular guy" who happened to take a video of the assassination. At the beginning of the video Roni Kempler was in the "sterile" area and was requested to leave. So Roni leaves and goes to the roof of an adjacent building - the perfect place for an assassin. Of course there were security personal on the roof but those security personal let Roni Kempler go home with the most important piece of evidence that existed."

David Rutstein also gets involved

The viewing of the Yitzhak Rabin murder video (the Kempler video) in 1995 convinced various Israelis to write books on the Yitzhak Rabin murder conspiracy. But those various books did not seem to influence the Israeli establishment to pursue Yitzhak Rabin's true killers. In September 2005, David Rutstein returned to Israel after a 15 year hiatus from the country. Mr. David Rutstein noticed that Israeli TV, which dedicated the whole week to the life and death of Yitzhak Rabin, did not show the seven and a half minute video but just a few second clip of the murder itself and many Israelis did not know that the Yitzhak Rabin murder video even existed. That raised Mr. Rutstein's suspicion and he researched the Yitzhak Rabin murder on the internet and soon thereafter built the following web sites to bring the truth as to the true circumstances of the death of Yitzhak Rabin to the entire Israeli public. Subsequently, www.YitzhakRabin.co.il, www.YigalAmir.com, www.ShimonPeres.net were built in Hebrew and www.DavidRutstein.com was built in English. In July 2005, David Rutstein obtained the Yitzhak Rabin murder video and shows the video free of charge on his web sites.

Back passenger door of the limousine at 7:17

The event captured on the film that is the center-piece of doubts about the veracity of the Shamgar Commission is the back passenger door of Yitzhak Rabin's limousine that closes before Yitzhak Rabin enters the car. To almost everyone who watches that door close, it appears that someone, perhaps the murderer, may have been waiting in the limousine for Yitzhak Rabin. This is in direct contradiction to the official conclusion that Yitzhak Rabin entered an empty car. This occurs at 7:17 of the video as well as at 8:41 when repeated.

Video concentrates on Yigal Amir

But there is more on the Yitzhak Rabin murder video that contradicts the official findings. As the seven and a half minute video begins we notice that the video is concentrating on Yigal Amir as Mr. Yigal Amir is by himself in the sterile area near Yitzhak Rabin's limousine. Mr. Roni Kempler, when interviewed, said that he concentrated on Yigal Amir because of his suspicions. We also notice that two security officers strike up a conversation with Yigal Amir at 4:20 of the video.

Shimon Peres and the back passenger door

A few minutes later, Shimon Peres comes down the steps and walks towards the crowd at the barrier. He accepts their good wishes and walks to a spot about a meter and a half opposite the hood of Yitzhak Rabin's car. Shimon Peres is accompanied by four bodyguards. Shimon Peres stops, looks inside the back passenger door of the limousine and then speaks to the the bodyguards. Shimon Peres and the bodyguards together look into the back passenger door of the limousine.

At this point there is a cut. Suddenly Shimon Peres is talking to Yitzhak Rabin's driver, Menachem Damti. Shimon Peres speaks to Menachem Damti, the driver, and subsequently Damti, Shimon Peres and the bodyguards again look at the back passenger door of the limousine. We notice in the video that Menachem Damti's head is nodding from side to side to indicate that he disagrees with something said by Shimon Peres.

Yigal Amir pulls out the gun

Shimon Peres enters his car and Yitzhak Rabin descends the steps. The camera now concentrates on Yitzhak Rabin and we see the bodyguard at Yitzhak Rabin's rear clearly stopping. The rear bodyguard stopping creates an open space and allows Yigal Amir a clear shot at the Prime Minister. Yigal Amir draws his gun from deep inside his right pocket, circles a student reporter named Modi Yisrael, and shoots with his left arm. At this point we see a flash of one bullet, one loud "bang" and two softer bangs. After supposedly "taking" the first bullet in the back, Yitzhak Rabin turns his neck to see who shot him. The fuzziness or cuts of the video are obvious to even an untrained eye. At the time of the shooting Yigal Amir was somewhat of a shadow. According to the ballistic testimony at the trial Yitzhak Rabin was shot at a very close range. Yigal Amir was far away from Yitzhak Rabin so the video was "cut" to extend Yigal Amir's left arm to shoot. As well, Yigal Amir is right-handed and during the re-enactment of the shooting during the trial Yigal Amir reenacted the shooting with his right arm, not his left. The entire video becomes fuzzy for two seconds after the first shot and then the video quality returns to normal. The back passenger door of the limousine closes. Yitzhak Rabin, the driver and bodyguard enter the limousine from the driver's side and the limousine begins to travel. Soon thereafter the video stops.

Mistake that video was shown to the public

The most haunting moment of the video is the seconds before Yitzhak Rabin is placed in the car, the opposite back passenger door slams shut. This segment has been examined and tested by numerous journalists, every shadow on the screen traced, every possible explanation exhausted. It seems that someone was waiting inside the car for Yitzhak Rabin. The question arises "Why did they make this murder video if it's so incriminating?" One obvious answer may be that "they made a mistake." That may be the reason why the video is not shown or even mentioned on Israeli TV. Therefore, the majority of younger Israelis didn't even know the seven and a half minute Yitzhak Rabin murder video even exists. That is, until its sudden reappearance and now it's the talk of the nation and soon the whole world as the Yitzhak Rabin assassination cover-up gets blown!

Kempler Video of Yitzhak Rabin Assassination

Shimon Peres Came to Power Over Rabin's Dead Body

Will Yitzhak Rabin's "Bloody Shirt" Defeat Shimon Peres Again?

David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.