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Israeli security forces foil attempt on Netanyahu’s life

The suspect was only identified as an elderly anti-government activist due to a court-ordered gag order imposed on the case.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuMata Alleruzzo / AFP

Jewish News Syndicate JNS

An anti-government activist from Tel Aviv was arrested two weeks ago on suspicion of conspiring to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel Police confirmed on Wednesday.

The suspect, only identified as a woman in her 70s due to a court-ordered gag order imposed on the case, was arrested by Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) officers and interrogated by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 National Unit for International Crimes, according to the statement.

“To advance and realize her intentions, the suspect contacted additional protest activists to obtain weapons and also inquired about the prime minister’s security arrangements,” police revealed.

The woman had sought to murder the prime minister with an explosive device, according to a report by Israel’s Kan News outlet on Wednesday.

The woman was reportedly released on the condition that she stay away from Netanyahu and government buildings, but was expected to be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and an act of terror.

The suspect’s attorneys, Guy Erenberg and Giora Zilberstein, told Kan News on Wednesday: “We have not yet received the indictment and the evidence, and at this stage we cannot comment on the suspicions.”

Netanyahu has faced heated rhetoric over the years that has sometimes crossed the line into threats, especially during the 2023 judicial reform debate. Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel, the same group of anti-government activists again began demanding his ouster, this time over his management of the war and the hostages held by Hamas.

Around a year ago, Cabinet ministers were shown a video of left-wing incitement against Netanyahu. The clip of inflammatory words and threats against the Jewish state’s leader was compiled a day after an assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The compilation, which was also sent to Israeli media outlets, showed protesters and others calling Netanyahu a “traitor,” “Satan” and an “enemy of the people,” among other inflammatory remarks.

The Shin Bet has instructed Netanyahu and other government ministers to take extra security precautions at public events amid the ongoing seven-front war against Iran and its regional terrorist proxies.

Netanyahu’s security was reportedly upped after a Hezbollah drone hit his private residence in the northern city of Caesarea in mid-October.

Ben-Gvir: Assassinate Syrian leader al-Sharaa

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday called for the assassination of Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa due to his alleged responsibility for atrocities committed against his country’s Druze population.

“We need to do one more thing: Eliminate al-Julani,” Ben-Gvir told JNS at the Knesset, using the de facto president’s nom de guerre. “Get rid of him. He’s a jihadist. Why are we letting him live?”

“We saw the pictures,” the minister continued, referring to massacres, beheadings and rapes, including of women and children, that were allegedly carried out by state-sponsored militias.

“I think Israel needs to understand: Once a jihadist, always a jihadist,” he said of al-Sharaa, who was a leading figure in Al-Qaeda before founding Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the overthrow of the Assad regime in December 2024.

“I embrace our Druze brothers—they’re our brothers in every way,” said Ben-Gvir, noting that some 100 members of the community serve in the Israel Border Police, which falls under his purview as minister.

© JNS

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