Israeli Law May Be the Funniest

Hagai Amir

The Yediot Aharonot Ynet website in English is quite selective about the items it chooses to translate and publish. Which is why you’d be deprived of this amazing story unless yours truly rolls up his sleeves and translates away, like in the old days.

HAGAI AMIR GETS A YEAR IN JAIL FOR THREATENING SHARON’S LIFE

Hagai Amir, who is serving a 16-year prison term for his involvement in the Yitzhak Rabin murder (Yigal Amir, the shooter, is his brother – YY) was sentenced this morning (Thursday) in a Netanya Court to a year in jail, following his conviction for threatening the life of former premier Ariel Sharon…

The prosecution argued that on October 31, 2004, Hagai Amir asked a guard at the Ashmoret prison to dial his parents’ and sister’s numbers for him, so he could talk to them. After there was no response from the two phone numbers, Amir said to the guards: “What are you afraid of, that I would finish off Sharon?” After which he told them, “I can make one phone call and get Sharon finished and blown up.”

The judge, Ruth Lorech, warned about the threat posed by imprisoned persons who have already been convicted for involvement in the assassination of a sitting premier.
Do you get the feeling her honor is not trusting so much the competence of the Israeli prison system?

I’ll tell you, the things they send people to jail for… Used to be the response to the threat above would have been, “Oh yeah? You and what army.” But that’s how children settled such conflicts. Governments have ways of making you regret having a mouth at all…