Israelis Vow to Prevent Rabin Assassin's Marriage

JERUSALEM – Israel's Prisons Authority said Monday it would refuse any request by Yitzhak Rabin's (search) assassin to marry a woman who has been visiting him in prison for several years.

The ultranationalist assassin, Yigal Amir (search), is serving a life term for the Nov. 4, 1995 killing of the Israeli prime minister.

Amir's lawyer said Monday his client is seeking permission for a jailhouse ceremony by April, but has not made a formal request yet.

Rabin's daughter, Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, felt unwell Sunday night after first hearing the news of the planned wedding, and was hospitalized in Tel Aviv (search) with heart palpitations. She was in stable condition Monday.

Prison Commissioner Yaakov Ganot asked legal advisers to defend his decision to prevent the wedding, mainly on security grounds, his office said in a statement Monday.

Amir's lawyer, Shmuel Kasper, said Ganot's decision violates his client's basic rights and would not hold up in court. He noted that several Palestinians serving multiple life terms for terror attacks have been permitted to marry in Israeli prisons.

Responding to the news of the planned wedding, legislator Eitan Kabel of Rabin's Labor Party introduced legislation to prevent all prisoners serving life terms from marrying.

Amir killed Rabin to prevent land-for-peace deals with the Palestinians. The assassination was a major blow to peace efforts. He wants to marry Larisa Trimbobler, a recently divorced mother of four, who has been visiting him in prison every two weeks for several years.

In an interview on Channel Two TV Monday, she said the two shared "a spiritual bond" but insisted she had no political standpoint.

"I'm surprised by all the claims that it legitimizes him ... its clear to everyone that it won't be a normal marriage," she said. "He's a life prisoner with no right of parole, but I'm prepared for that."

Trimbobler, who immigrated from the former Soviet Union more than a decade ago, has a doctorate in philosophy and has brought Amir many books on the subject, the Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported.

Amir is held in solitary confinement, with his every move monitored by cameras.