- Last Friday, Maariv's weekend magazine published a three
page interview with Dr. Mordechai Gutman, Yitzhak Rabin's last chief surgeon.
On the cover of the magazine was a photo of Gutman walking and a banner
headline, "There Was No Third Bullet." I was ecstatic. The second
biggest newspaper in Israel felt compelled on the fifth anniversary of
Rabin's murder to answer my main contention: that Rabin was shot three
times, once frontally, not twice in the back as our government insisted.
The implication, of course, is that Yigal Amir never shot Rabin three times
nor from the front. My work was having the impact I long fought for and
desired.
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- Two journalists who received advance copies of the article
were equally excited. "Gutman," said one, "is in for it.
Everyone will spot his lies." And when I finally read the article,
I discovered that Dr. Gutman didn't let me down. Not at all. In fact, I
was thoroughly delighted by his disastrous presentation. Here is the letter
I wrote to Maariv:
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- "Dr. Gutman tries desperately to prove, "There
Was No Third Bullet," because no third bullet ever exited Rabin's
body.
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- "Whoever claimed that one did? Certainly not me
or my colleagues. We simply repeat Dr. Gutman's surgical notes which report
that a bullet "passed through the upper lobe of the right lung, leaving
a 3 cm. wound exit wound in the lung before continuing to vertebrae D5-6,
then shattering them."
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- "Dr. Gutman is posing his own contradictions, then
answering them. Further, he claims that this wound description was a case
of mistaken inscription. If so, then he made the same mistake three times
in one night, for he describes precisely the same wound in his Surgical
Wound and Operation Summary.
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- "Dr. Gutman seems to forget that seven other doctors
and nurses, including Health Minister Ephraim Sneh and Ichilov Hospital
Director Gaby Barabash also reported the same third frontal wound that
night. On top of that, Shimon Peres in a PBS interview says that he saw
Rabin's body and it was wounded three times including once from a frontal
shot that passed through the song sheet Rabin put in his front jacket pocket.
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- "So who is telling the truth, Sneh, Barabah, Peres
et al or Gutman?
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- "And what are we supposed to say about Dr. Gutman
and all the other doctors reporting that Rabin died of spinal shock, a
shattering of the spinal cord, from this third shot? How do we explain
that the State Pathologist concluded that there "was no damage to
the spinal cord," or that the Shamgar Commission Of Inquiry chose
to accept that conclusion over that of five other doctors, including Gutman
himself?
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- "Gutman simply does not bring up this central of
all issues in his interview.
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- "And how do we account for his lies? He says that
the disputed section of the surgeon's report was taken out of context from
a three page report. I have the full report and it is six pages long. And
nothing is taken out of context. Dr. Gutman reports treating two other
wounds and then describes his treatment of the third, frontal wound.
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- "The Rabin assassination must be reinvestigated
and if Dr. Gutman is found to be lying, as I insist he is, then steps must
be taken towards his permanent disbarment from the medical profession."
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- Today, I received several phone calls and letters claiming
someone was spreading a rumor that the Maariv article somehow discredited
me. I was dumbfounded. For the past two days my phone hasn't stopped ringing.
People throughout Israel read the interview and saw it as a major breakthrough.
They knew the facts of the Rabin murder and saw right through Dr. Gutman's
deceit. Clearly, I had underestimated the stupidity of the rest of the
country.
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- Then I received a phone call from New York telling me
the rumor monger was one Stephen Plut. "Not him again," I thought.
This man has a sick obsession with my work that is hard to explain unless
he is doing someone's dirty work. I've never met him so I called a colleague
of his to find out why I have this scandal monger on my back.
-
- He told me, "We worked together every now and then
back in the late '80s. We were both committed to bringing a free market
economy to Israel. He prepared a paper that was recognized in some economic
circles and wrote regularly for the Jerusalem Post.
-
- "He has long since been axed from the Post and faded
into obscurity. He tries to make up for his fall from grace by writing
from a 1970s conservative angle, you know, satires about feminism and the
like, but he hasn't the talent to gain a following.
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- "He might actually be working for some agency but
I think you're looking at a frustrated mediocrity, long ago left behind.
You're the new wave and he's too shallow to understand why. While you are
having books published worldwide, he is seething about a world which won't
recognize his self-perceived greatness. Ignore him, he's not important
to you or anybody."
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- Tonight, I hosted a high ranking military figure in my
home. He heard my conversation from New York and added, "You know
what the discrediters can't figure out? The more they attack you, the better
your work gets known. They can't figure out that neglect is your greatest
enemy."
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- And here's some news that will really tick off the Pluts
of the world. I have a wonderful new American publisher for my latest book,
The Last Days Of Israel. Write Dandelion Books at cadler@dandelionbooks.com
or call 1-877-517-9436
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- And as a final blow to mediocrity, the first reviews
of the new edition of Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin have come in and they
are wonderful. Call Brookline Books at 1 800 666 BOOK or write brooklinebks@delphi.com
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- Please visit http://www.webseers.com/rabin
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