November 17, 2011
Amir’s minyan request rejected
Follow JewishJournal.com on 
Yitzhak Rabin in September 1986. Photo by Sgt. Robert G. Clambus
An Israeli court has rejected a request by Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir, to allow him to pray with a minyan.
The Petach Tikvah district court ruled Thursday that the Israel Prison Service can prevent Amir from praying with a quorum of 10 men, but that it should make an attempt to find places for Amir to pray with other inmates if it does not disrupt security.
Amir was given permission recently to study with another inmate for one hour a week. He currently meets with three different inmates at three different hours each week.
The court said that the prison service’s decision to prevent Amir from gathering with other prisoners is “not unreasonable.” But the court also said that Amir should be allowed to have more religious books from which to study, as long as they are approved by the prison rabbi.
Amir has been in prison since 1995, and is serving a life sentence for the Tel Aviv murder of Rabin on Nov. 5 that year. He has been in solitary confinement the entire time because of fears that he will spread his ideology to other prisoners and that his life could be in danger from other prisoners.
