Police investigating bullet and death threats sent to prime minister, family
A letter addressed to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his family included death threats and a bullet, police said Tuesday, ramping up security around the premier.
According to a police statement, the Lahav 433 serious crime unit and the Shin Bet security agency launched a joint investigation into the threatening letter.
The letter was sent to a building adjacent to Bennett’s family home in Ra’anana, which he is using rather than the official Prime Minister’s Residence, and was addressed to both the prime minister and his family, Channel 12 news reported.
It was not immediately clear when the letter was sent.
A court-imposed gag order has prohibited many details of the case from being published.
The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that security for Bennett’s family was increased following assessments by officials.
Police did not announce a motive for the letter, but Bennett hinted it was political in nature, saying on Twitter that such disputes shouldn’t rise to the level of “violence, bullying or death threats.”
“I’m the prime minister and a political figure, but I’m also a husband and father and it’s my duty to protect my wife and children,” Bennett wrote. “We must lower the temperature on the political discourse.”
Police have investigated a number of threats against the prime minister in the past, usually made over social media.
It was not the first time authorities were investigating threats made against Bennett.
In August, a 23-year-old resident of Ashkelon was detained over an alleged threatening Facebook comment on a post from Bennett expressing condolences to the family of Barel Hadaria Shmueli, a Border Police officer who died after being shot on the Gaza border during violent protests nine days earlier.
Earlier that month, another resident of the south was detained for questioning over apparent threats against the prime minister.
In May, before he became prime minister, the Knesset Guard boosted security for Bennett and his home after a series of threats amid feverish coalition talks and a heated political atmosphere.
Later that month, police investigated threats made against Bennett on social media, including images circulating of him wearing an Arab headdress with the caption “the liar” — similar to those shared of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin before his assassination.