Israel boosts security around PM Bennett and his family after death threat

Jerusalem, April 27

Israeli police have beefed up security around Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his family after a letter addressed to them was found to contain a live bullet and a death threat.

The Israeli police and internal security agency Shin Bet have launched an investigation into the death threat made against Prime Minister Bennett and his family, the police said on Thursday.

The letter intended for Bennett and his family included a bullet, the brief police statement said.

“Following a letter with a death threat and a live bullet inside that was addressed to the Prime Minister and his family, security officials in the Prime Minister’s Office have decided to reinforce the security of the unit responsible for protecting Prime Minister Bennett’s family,” a statement issued by the PM’s media adviser said on Tuesday.

Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz online quoted an informed source as saying that the letter was not sent to Bennett’s Ra’anana home nor to the official residence of the prime minister in Jerusalem, but to the former workplace of Gilat Bennett, the prime minister’s wife.

They informed the family of the letter, which was passed on to the Shin Bet, the source reportedly said.

They added that the letter mentioned the couple’s 16-year-old son, Yoni, and said, “We will get to you,” the report said.

The fact that the letter included a bullet made the investigating bodies attach greater importance to the threat, compared with the other threats posed online, it said.

“A political argument, no matter how deep it is, should not come to violence, thuggery and death threats,” Bennett said in a statement shared on his social media pages.

“We have to do everything, as leaders and as citizens who care about their future and the future of their children in this country, so that such phenomena simply do not exist. We are all people,” he added.

Bennett also urged to “lower the flames of the political discourse”, particularly on social media, ahead of Israel’s Independence Day and the Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism next week.

Israel has been dealing with heightened tensions accompanied by a series of terror attacks and clashes in Jerusalem around the Al-Aqsa Mosque recently.

Bennett has also drawn the ire of the extremist forces on the right for allying with political parties of differing ideologies, and denying the right-wing bloc the opportunity to form a government.