Rabin Assassination: Wife Claims Second Bullet Mystery

More than three decades after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Larisa Trimbobler—wife of convicted killer Yigal Amir—has dismissed various conspiracy theories surrounding the murder while advancing a claim of her own.

Over the years, alternative theories have circulated suggesting that Israel's Shin Bet security service replaced the bullets in Amir's magazine with blanks, similar to what the agency had done months earlier in the "Kahalani brothers" case, when it disabled a rifle intended for use against Palestinians. According to these theories, either Amir replaced the bullets himself, or Rabin was actually killed by the Shin Bet in the car or at the agency's headquarters, where he was rushed before reaching the hospital.

Trimbobler categorically rejects the blank bullet theory, calling it technically impossible and noting that Amir verified his ammunition before leaving home. She explains that the pistol belonged to Amir and was purchased legally under his own license, dismissing as "complete nonsense" suggestions that he received it from Avishai Raviv, a Shin Bet informant who had infiltrated right-wing circles. Before leaving his home that Saturday night, she says, Amir checked the bullets in the magazine and changed their order specifically because he feared provocation—the Kahalani brothers incident was still fresh, and the brothers were actually Amir's second cousins.

Trimbobler details the types of ammunition Amir loaded: regular bullets, hollow-point bullets, and special bullets prepared by his brother Hagai, though these were never fired. She then contradicts the blank bullet theory by explaining that such rounds require manual re-cocking after each shot. According to ballistics experts she cites, firing three shots in rapid succession with blank bullets is impossible without manually cycling the slide between each round. Automatic firing of blanks is only possible with a special device attached to the barrel, which Amir's pistol did not have. Switching to such a modified weapon, she argues, would have made no sense.

She claims that the question of whether Yigal Amir killed Rabin cannot be definitively answered. "We don't have an answer to this question. Moreover, most of those who take the liberty to rule on this matter with certainty don't have such an answer either, including those who supposedly conducted 'independent investigations,'" she states. A genuine investigation has never been conducted, she argues, and all versions presented are riddled with holes, contradictions, and based on speculation—from the official account to the theories of filmmaker Natan Gefen (known by his pen name Chamish) and his followers.

She attributes this to limited access to materials and a lack of genuine public interest. For these and other reasons, she contends, the public has settled for unreliable versions of events.

Trimbobler's conspiracy theory centers on the second bullet that struck Rabin. "What is known with certainty is this: the second bullet, which according to the official version was found in Rabin's body, could not have been fired from Yigal's pistol. According to ballistic test results, this shot was fired from point-blank range (contact) and at a completely different angle,"

She points to bodyguard Yoram Rubin, who was wounded in the arm during the attack, noting that he changed his testimony in court from what he initially told police and the Shamgar Commission investigating the assassination. Even his final version is highly questionable, she argues, as is his own injury—supposedly from Amir's shooting—which appears highly implausible given where he was standing, in front of Rabin on the opposite side.

Regarding the third bullet that struck Rabin's spine, Trimbobler leaves the question open, claiming she lacks information and that evidence was withheld from the court. "The issue of the spinal injury could have been resolved through X-ray imaging, but it was not presented to the court (it was 'lost'), and we never received it despite a formal request submitted by Yigal," she states.

As for the possibility of a retrial, Trimbobler is pessimistic. She argues that these facts alone would be sufficient to lead to a new trial—noting that Roman Zadorov was acquitted in another high-profile murder case on far less solid evidence—if Israel had different judicial and media systems. Under current circumstances, she says, there is almost no hope for a retrial, as demonstrated by the results of numerous attempts made over the decades.

Yigal Amir was convicted of murdering Rabin by an Israeli district court and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of pardon, as mandated by law.