Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Wednesday on Holocaust Remembrance Day that society is polarized and urged citizens not to be divided over internal disagreements. Just a day later, her 15-year-old son, Joni, found a letter with a cartridge in the mail.
The first letter arrived at the prime minister’s address in Ra’anana on Tuesday, both articles containing the same content. In addition to the cartridge case, it contained a clear threat – either quit or we’ll harm your family.
On Thursday, Israeli military police detained a soldier who posted messages threatening the prime minister on social networks. But he’s probably not the author of the letters. Israeli media differ in their assessment of whether the letters are the work of one man or group, or whether the author of the other was inspired by the first letter sent to Bennett and his wife Gilad.
Security forces have stepped up surveillance of the prime minister’s family since Tuesday, and a joint investigation has been launched by the Shinbet secret service and a special serious crime investigation team called Lahav 433, The Times of Israel reported.
I am the prime minister, but also my husband and father
According to police, the letters contained “detailed threats” and their authors had to gather information about the prime minister’s family. Bennett, 50, and his wife, Gilad, 44, have four children, two sons and two daughters.
“I am a prime minister and a politician, but also a husband and father, and it is my duty to protect my wife and children,” Bennett said after his first letter. According to him, the motives are political.
After the last elections, the Prime Minister became the head of a diverse coalition that included, for example, the liberal Merec party or the Islamist party Ra’am, in addition to the far-right Jamina party. Some of Bennett’s former ultranationalist supporters view entering such a government as treason. The only link that convinced the otherwise opposing parties to cooperate and form a government was opposition to corrupt accuser Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It just came to our attention then. Bennett’s son Joni wrote on Instagram, “This is because it incites hatred and people who brainwash other people like this deserve to go to jail.”
Bennett’s coalition partners also condemned the threats. Foreign Minister Jair Lapid said the letter “showed how far hate can go”. Threats cross the red line, according to Defense Secretary Benny Gance. “The sleeve in the envelope could turn from a pistol to three bullets,” added Ganch – coinciding with the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was murdered in 1995 by a far-right Jewish terrorist.
Netanyahu and Kahanists lurk in opposition
On the contrary, Bennett did not find understanding among Kahanists, namely supporters of the American extremist rabbi Meir Kahane. They came to the Knesset as allies of Netanyahu’s Likud, their party is called Religious Zionism. One of the lawmakers, Becalel Smotric, suggested that the incident was not just an attempt to increase the popularity of the prime minister.
Differences of opinion against the Prime Minister’s policy are also flaming in his own party, which is also religious and nationalist. One of the MPs recently left the governing coalition, depriving the coalition of its majority in the Knesset.
At the same time, opposition leader Netanyahu, who has repeatedly called Bennett a traitor, lurks. Bennett once worked as his close adviser and even named his son after Netanyahu’s brother, who died while rescuing hostages from a hijacked plane in Uganda.
Bennett’s threats were investigated by police last May when portraits of a Muslim wearing a hijab and a false inscription appeared on social media – similar collages emerged before assassin Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.
However, it remains unclear who sent the threatening letters. It is possible that extremists from the Palestinian camp stand behind them. Recent clashes on the Temple Mount and Israeli raids on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank may have led to similar retaliation.
Source: Seznam Zpravy
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