Unsolved Mysteries: The Assassination of Dr. Israel Kastner
Who stood to gain from disrupting the trial of the man accused of 'selling his soul to the devil'?
The Year: 1957. The Location: 6 Emmanuelle Harumi Street, Tel Aviv. The Context: The potential shift of Israel's political landscape.
It was one of the biggest scandals in Israel’s early history. In a dramatic 1955 verdict, Judge Benjamin Halevi of the Jerusalem District Court declared that "Rudolf Kastner sold his soul to the Nazi devil." A year later, Kastner was attacked at the entrance to his home after returning from work at the 'Uj Kelet' newspaper. An assailant approached him, confirmed his identity as Dr. Kastner, and shot him multiple times. Kastner was hit by only one bullet, yet he succumbed to his injuries a week later. Three young men were convicted: Yosef Menkes, Ze’ev Eckstein (the shooter), and Dan Shomer (the driver). They were sentenced to life but were pardoned after seven years.
During the trial, it was uncovered that Ze’ev Eckstein had been a Shin Bet agent, initially tasked with reporting on the group’s activities, who became a double agent. In a 2008 interview, Eckstein revealed he was influenced by the public atmosphere in the country and believed he was saving Israel from the Mapai regime and altering history. At the outset of that interview, Eckstein stated, "I decided to tell only the truth - but not all of it." His words implied that details about Kastner's murder were still unclear. Towards the end of the interview, Eckstein asserted that although three shots were fired from his gun, none hit Kastner, and that a fourth shot from another mysterious person was the lethal one. The identity of this fourth shooter remains unknown.
It is notable that two months after the assassination, the Supreme Court overturned Halevi’s ruling by a majority vote. Two out of five judges believed Halevi was right and not harsh enough, while the other three felt that the moral scrutiny of Kastner’s actions belonged in history books, not courtrooms. Moreover, documents revealed over the years, which the judges initially did not see, tend to portray Kastner negatively and support the allegations against him, particularly his puzzling decision to testify and provide positive statements for eight Nazi criminals.
