Israel’s Shin Bet Warns of Violence as Netanyahu Faces Unseating

Israeli PM Netanyahu and Shin Bet director Nadav Argaman (L) attend a presser at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on November 12, 2019. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)
Israeli PM Netanyahu and Shin Bet director Nadav Argaman (L) attend a presser at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on November 12, 2019. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)
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Israel’s Shin Bet Warns of Violence as Netanyahu Faces Unseating

Israeli PM Netanyahu and Shin Bet director Nadav Argaman (L) attend a presser at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on November 12, 2019. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)
Israeli PM Netanyahu and Shin Bet director Nadav Argaman (L) attend a presser at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on November 12, 2019. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)

The head of Israel’s domestic security service issued a rare warning on Saturday of possible violence during one of the most politically charged periods in decades, with the country on the verge of unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, its longest serving leader.

Netanyahu is facing the prospect of an end to his 12-year run as premier after Israel’s centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid announced on Wednesday that he had succeeded in forming a governing coalition following a March 23 election.

The new government, yet to be sworn in, is an unlikely patchwork of left-wing, liberal, rightist, nationalist and religious parties, as well as - for the first time in Israel’s history - an Arab Islamist party.

Netanyahu in online posts has warned the partnership was “a dangerous leftist government.”

Some right-wing groups are angry at Naftali Bennett, head of a small ultra-nationalist party who is slated to replace Netanyahu in a power-sharing pact with Lapid, garnering many postings attacking him on social media, according to Reuters.

Before the election, Bennett had promised he would not join the centrist Lapid, or any Arab party in a coalition.

“We have recently identified a rise in increasingly extreme violent and inciteful discourse particularly on social networks,” Nadav Argaman, head of the Shin Bet security force, said in a statement without mentioning any names.

“This discourse may be interpreted among certain groups or individuals, as one that permits violent and illegal activity that may even cause physical harm,” he said.

Since Bennett announced he was joining forces with Lapid, security services have ramped up his protection with right-wing demonstrations held near the homes of his party members, hoping to keep them from joining the government.

Argaman called on political and religious leaders to show responsibility and tone down potential incitements. His warning was reminiscent to some in Israel of the days leading up to the 1995 assassination of then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was shot by a Jewish ultra-nationalist for pursuing a land-for-peace deal with the Palestinians.

Israel’s left has for years pointed the finger at Netanyahu, then head of the opposition, for playing a part in incitement that preceded the assassination. Netanyahu has vehemently rejected the accusation and has repeatedly condemned Rabin’s killing.

Lapid and Bennett have said they hope their “unity government” will heal deep political divides among Israelis and end hate. A poll by Israel’s N12 Television’s Meet the Press on Saturday showed that 46 percent of Israelis support the Bennett-Lapid government, 38 percent would prefer another election - the fifth in about two years - and 15 percent did not state a preference.

Tensions could flare further this week, when a Jewish right-wing march is expected to pass through Jerusalem’s Old City’s Damascus gate. Eleven days of intense fighting broke out last month between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, sparked by Israeli-Palestinian confrontations in Jerusalem, in and around the Old City. A similar march, its route diverted at the last minute, was held the day the fighting broke out.

In the nearby flashpoint East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where the potential eviction of Palestinians by Jewish settlers played a major role in the buildup to the latest Israel-Hamas conflict, scuffles broke out on Saturday.



Strong Earthquake Kills at Least 126 People in Tibet

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)
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Strong Earthquake Kills at Least 126 People in Tibet

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescue workers search for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (Xinhua via AP)

 A strong earthquake shook a high-altitude region of western China and areas of Nepal on Tuesday, damaging hundreds of houses, littering streets with rubble and killing at least 126 people in Tibet. Many others were trapped as dozens of aftershocks shook the remote region.
Rescue workers climbed mounds of broken bricks, some using ladders in heavily damaged villages, as they searched for survivors. Videos posted by China's Ministry of Emergency Management showed two people being carried on stretchers by workers treading over the debris from collapsed homes.
At least 188 people were injured in Tibet on the Chinese side of the border, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
More than 1,000 homes were damaged in the barren and sparsely populated region, state broadcaster CCTV reported. In video posted by the broadcaster, building debris littered streets and crushed cars.
According to The AP, people in northeastern Nepal strongly felt the earthquake, but there were no initial reports of injuries or damage, according to the country's National Emergency Operation Center. The area around Mount Everest, about 75 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the epicenter, was empty in the depth of winter when even some residents move away to escape the cold.
The quake woke up residents in Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu — about 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the epicenter — and sent them running into the streets.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured magnitude 7.1 and was relatively shallow at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6 miles). China's Earthquake Networks Center recorded the magnitude as 6.8. Shallow earthquakes often cause more damage.
The epicenter was in Tibet's Tingri county, where the India and Eurasia plates grind against each other and can cause earthquakes strong enough to change the heights of some of the world’s tallest peaks in the Himalayan mountains.
There have been 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the area where Tuesday’s quake hit over the past century, the USGS said.
About 150 aftershocks were recorded in the nine hours after the earthquake, and the Mount Everest scenic area on the Chinese side was closed.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to rescue people, minimize casualties and resettle those whose homes were damaged. More than 3,000 rescuers were deployed, CCTV said.
Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing was dispatched to the area to guide the work, and the government announced the allocation of 100 million yuan ($13.6 million) for disaster relief.
About 6,900 people live in three townships and 27 villages within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of the epicenter on the Chinese side, state media said. The average altitude in the area is about 4,200 meters (13,800 feet), the Chinese earthquake center said in a social media post.
On the southwest edge of Kathmandu, a video showed water spilling out into the street from a pond in a courtyard with a small temple.
“It is a big earthquake," a woman can be heard saying. "People are all shaking.”