Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his wife and two sons were under threat of assassination and requested an extension of their security detail for at least six months.
Netanyahu said that the threat to his family is mainly from Iran and other hostile countries and sent a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office on Monday requesting that high-level protection of his family members be extended further.
“Do not view the murder threats to the family of former prime minister Netanyahu as threats coming from delusional people,” Netanyahu’s chief of staff wrote in the letter, “since it is precisely from these people that the next murder may come.”
The letter also suggests that Iran or another enemy nation could attempt to harm his family.
“Due to the sensitive nature of the operations that Netanyahu authorized over the years against enemy states, there is an open ‘blood feud’ between them and him and his family,” the letter said.
“These things are also expressed in social media posts from Iran that have marked Netanyahu family members as targets for assassination,” the letter said.
Netanyahu, himself, is entitled to protection for 20 years after leaving the Prime Minister’s Residence. Nevertheless, his family is entitled to only six months of protection after Netanyahu’s term as prime minister ends.
This period is set to end on December 13, which is why the former premier is requesting an extension.
A former head of the intelligence unit which handles the security of personalities in the Prime Minister’s Office, stated that the Netanyahu family’s request was not in place, as there were no indications that there was an actual need to extend the security of Netanyahu’s wife and two sons.
