Israeli intelligence said on Friday they found a letter threatening to kill Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu placed on the grave of his brother, Yoni, at Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.
Yoni was killed 47 years ago during the Entebbe Operation. He was an army officer who commanded the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal during operation to rescue hostages held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976.
Netanyahu had visited the grave to mark the 47th anniversary of his brother’s death. During a regular security check preceding the PM’s visit, the Shin Bet, Israeli intelligence, discovered the letter, which was addressed to Yoni. The issue is being investigated.
“It's my request to tell your brother, Bibi [Benjamin] Netanyahu, that he has a few rights or a lot of rights, but they have ended. And now, Mount Herzl, this sanctified place, has the clock ticking down, until September 16, 2023, when your brother, thinks he will turn 74,” the author of the letter wrote, referring to the PM’s Hebrew calendar birthday.
The letter demanded of the prime minister to conquer Gaza, and bring back the body of Hadar Goldin (a soldier killed in Gaza in 2014, to whom the letter's author has a stated connection), and the other hostages.
The letter added, “Bibi, you are no Ariel Sharon. Sharon had a stroke and fell into a coma for eight years. To you, I wish worse things.” It ends with “The clock is ticking! You have a little over three and a half months.”
The Palestinian Hamas movement is holding the bodies of Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were both killed in the 2014 Gaza war.
Netanyahu had received several death threats recently. Last week, a 23-year-old suspect, a resident of Beit Shemesh, was arrested for writing what were allegedly threatening messages against Netanyahu in a WhatsApp group.
“Everyone should carry a weapon with them. Then there will be a gun for everyone and an opportunity to put a bullet in Bibi’s head,” he wrote, using the premier’s nickname.
“Whoever wants to buy a gun send me a message. When it’s about your life you don’t need a license. We don’t care about the law,” he added. A police investigation is ongoing.
Three weeks ago, protesters vandalized a memorial of Netanyahu’s late father Benzion Netanyahu with a sign calling the Likud leader a “dictator.”
The PM responded on his Twitter account saying: “Vile people vandalized the memorial in honor of my father today. The time has come for them to stop trampling on every norm of decency.”
