The Magen Unit in the Prime Minister's Office will increase its protection of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's family after they were sent a threatening letter alongside a live round of ammunition. The letter appears to include a direct threat to assassinate Bennett, whose protection is handled by the Shin Bet security agency.
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The evidence was given to the Israel Police and an investigation was launched into the matter. The Shin Bet will continue to provide assistance during the probe, whose exact details are still under a gag order.
Shortly after the letter was made public, Bennett took to social media and called for civility to avoid a repeat of the tragic circumstances leading up to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.
"However deep our political divisions may be, they should not devolve into violence, bullying, and death threats," he wrote. "We need to do our utmost, as leaders and citizens who look toward the future in this country, so that this won't happen."
This is not the first time threats are leveled against Bennett, who became prime minister in June after forming an unlikely Left-Right coalition in the Knesset, to the dismay of many of his right-wing backers at the time. In 2021, a 23-year-old man was arrested after he commented on the prime minister's post by threatening his life. A similar case involved a man whose comment to an online article included the wording, "Bennett, we will sc**w you over and burn your house down, beware you piece of trash dictator."
Likewise, a man in his 40s was recently indicted for threatening to kill the prime minister after calling an emergency police operator.
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