Israeli Internal Security Minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch of Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home), warned of the possibility of a political assassination in Israel, and stated that the Police and the Security Services must seriously deal with all information on such threats. The official Israeli TV and Radio Agency – Arabic version, reported on its website ‘Arabil’ that Aharonovitch stated that the Police and the Security Services in Israel must remain alert and examine all related information.
He claimed that intelligence information “obtained from the left and the right wings’ in Israel must be taken seriously.
His statements came during a Knesset hearing session called for by Labor Member of Knesset, Yitzhak Herzog, following Israeli settler attacks known as “Price Tag”, targeting not only Palestinians, including Muslim graves in Jerusalem, but also target Israeli peace groups and leftist groups, such as Peace Now.
A few days ago, an Israeli man whose father is a senior officer in the Shin Bet (secret service) was charged with issuing a death threat against members of Peace Now in Israel.
When the accused was brought before a judge, he requested a ‘gag order’ be issued in the case, preventing the peace group from engaging in further contact with the media about the incident.
Earlier this month, the Peace Now movement reported that the home of the director of the movement’s Settlement Watch Project, Hagit Ofran, was targeted for the second time in recent months.
The act was perpetuated by extremist right-wing settlers who blame the group for Israel’s dismantlement of several illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.
Following the attack, Peace Now issued a statement blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partners for the escalating Price Tag attacks, and stated that “incitement and the harsh words of the coalition members in favor of illegal outposts and against the justice system and left-wing organizations, are seeping into the ground, and giving support to the price tag vandals.”
Peace Now stated that the Israeli Police have not even made one arrest, adding that the authorities in Israel are “indifferent about these threats.”
On November 4, 1995, former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by an extremist Israeli right-winger, identified as Yigal Amir, who shot him dead at the end of rally in Tel Aviv in support of the Oslo peace agreement with the Palestinians.
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Related Link On Americans for Peace Now; “Peace Now responds to attacks”
