Government informer charged in Rabin death

If he is found guilty of all charges, he faces up to seven years in prison. Raviv and Amir knew each other from their student days at Bar-Ilan University.

Declassified portions of a government report issued in 1997 said Raviv failed to tell the Shin Bet about Amir's repeated boasts that he was planning to kill Rabin.

"Raviv was closer to [Amir] than anyone else in organizing student demonstrations and weekends" in the West Bank, the Shamgar Commission report stated. The report called it surprising "that in his report on Yigal Amir, he did not mention or hint at Amir's known statements about plans to attack the prime minister, which he voiced more than once in his circle of friends."

The report also described how Raviv repeatedly attacked Arabs, initiated attacks against Jewish settlement leaders he considered too moderate and repeatedly told friends, including Amir, that the assassination could be justified on religious grounds.

In a separate development, a Tel Aviv district court has rejected an appeal from Amir's friend, Margalit Har-Shefi, who was sentenced last year to nine months in jail on similar charges.

Har-Shefi's attorney said he planned to file an appeal with Israel's Supreme Court.

Amir is serving a life sentence for Rabin's murder. His brother Hagai is serving a 12-year sentence, and a friend, Dror Adani, was sentenced to seven years for the crime.