ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 17, 1995 TAG: 9512180083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A19 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: JERUSALEM
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A videotape of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination shows the gunman talking to police, then appearing to hide behind a potted plant two minutes before the shooting, reporters who saw it said Saturday.
The tape's existence was revealed last week. It could provide insight into the apparent security breakdown that enabled Yigal Amir to approach the prime minister and shoot him point-blank as he left a Tel Aviv peace rally Nov. 4.
The video shows Rabin, mortally wounded, struggling for seconds to get up from the ground and climb into his car while his back remained exposed, the Telegraf newspaper said.
Telegraf said the unidentified cameraman is negotiating to sell the video to unidentified American, German and Israeli TV stations.
``It is amazing that the cameraman chose to focus on Yigal Amir something like two minutes before the assassination,'' said Rafi Reshef, an anchor for Israel's Channel 2 TV who was allowed a private viewing.
A second journalist who viewed the eight-minute tape, Michael Doron of Israel TV, called its contents ``horrifying.''
The cameraman gave a copy to police in the days after the event, and a commission of inquiry into the assassination decided not to make it public out of concern for the feelings of the slain premier's family. But the tape will be introduced as evidence at Amir's trial, which is to begin Tuesday.
Telegraf said police have advised the cameraman to remain anonymous for his own safety.
Security sources said about 60 people seen in the video have been identified except for one man seen talking to Amir and patting him on the shoulder.
Doron said Amir is visible wandering around the parking lot and even talking to one of the policemen responsible for clearing the area.
The footage then shows Rabin coming down the stairs from a terrace where he spoke, and proceeding toward his car. Amir is seen moving from behind him. There is the sound of three shots and then security men and a crowd surge toward the fallen prime minister.
Also Saturday, Israel's top expert on Jewish extremism said he passed on a warning from a seminary student just weeks before Rabin's killing, but the prime minister refused to take threats from Jews seriously.
According to Israeli news reports, the country's security service ignored other warnings from one of Amir's fellow students last summer.
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