In the latest evidence of a stunning intelligence failure, the Shin Bet security agency acknowledged Sunday that it had advance information about the assassin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
In a highly unusual move, the secretive agency sent a fax to Israel's army radio saying authorities were told of a plot in June by a friend of Yigal Amir, who confessed to shooting Rabin. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the fax.In other developments Sunday:
-Amir's brother Hagai, appearing in court, said he received weapons from a sergeant in an elite army unit, who is the seventh person arrested in the killing. A judge ordered Hagai Amir held for 12 more days.
-As the official mourning period ended, more than 200,000 Israelis streamed into Tel Aviv's newly renamed Yitzhak Rabin Square in a defiant replay of the Nov. 4 peace rally where Amir shot Rabin. The demonstrators carried flags, candles, cardboard doves and signs reading "Enough Death." It was believed to be the biggest gathering ever in Israel.
-Israeli troops began pulling out of the West Bank town of Jenin, carrying out the Palestinian self-rule agreement signed by Rabin and Yasser Arafat in September. The pullout is to be done by Monday.
-The ruling Labor Party picked acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres as its new leader, replacing Rabin.
Meanwhile, the Shin Bet acknowledged that Shlomo Halevy, a friend of Amir, provided an accurate description of the assassin after being told of plans to kill Rabin by a mutual friend.
Halevy told his army commander of the plot but did not reveal Amir's name or say that he knew him, pretending instead that he overheard two men discussing the plot in a bus station bathroom, the Shin Bet said.
Halevy said one of the plotters was 25, short, black-haired, a member of the militant Jewish group Eyal and a student at Bar Ilan University - a description that fits Amir.
Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Halevy's information was turned over to the Shin Bet, but after a superficial check, the agency decided to ignore it.
Israel radio reported that Halevy learned about Amir's plot from a Haifa woman, identified as Hila Frank. The radio said she was questioned and released by police Saturday, then went into hiding for fear of retribution.
Theories that Rabin was the victim of a right-wing plot were bolstered Sunday when police told a magistrate's court in Tel Aviv they had evidence linking the detained army sergeant to the assassination.
Hagai Amir, the gunman's 27-year-old brother, told the court he received weapons from the soldier, Eric Schwartz, but returned them. Schwartz didn't appear in court, and police wouldn't say whether he would appear on Monday.