The dispatch, noted that six of the Senator’s eleven children “expressed outrage” over a recent California parole board vote for the release of convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan.
A June 2, 2003, Los Angeles Times op-ed, entitled “First Shot in Terror War Killed RFK” was more direct, noting that RFK’s murder “was the first case of Middle Eastern ‘terrorism’ here at home—decades before Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda became household names.” Put simply: Sirhan was a Palestinian terrorist, and by committing an act of political violence, he was guilty of terrorism.
Sirhan’s own diary, which was submitted at his trial, further enunciated his motive. The diary showed growing anger at Kennedy over his support for the Jewish state in the recent 1967 Six-Day War.