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‘First-degree’ threat against Netanyahu found at brother Yoni’s grave

A suspect was arrested for writing a letter instructing the prime minister to “conquer Gaza and retrieve Hadar Goldin’s body.” 

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli police on Saturday night arrested a man suspected of placing a handwritten “first degree” threat against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the grave of his brother, Yoni, on Mount Herzl.

The suspect, a 26-year-old from southern Israel, was brought in for questioning by the Cyber Unit of Lahav 433 and the Shin Bet security agency.

The Hebrew and English letter, which was found on the grave on Friday read: “This is a threat of the first degree, red alert level.”

“Bibi, you are no better than [late prime minister Ariel] Sharon,” the letter said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. “Sharon got a stroke and went into an eight-year coma. To you I wish even worse things.”

The letter outlined two missions for Netanyahu: to “conquer” Gaza and bring back the body of “my counselor” Hadar Goldin as well as that of Oron Shaul. The bodies of the two IDF soldiers, as well as two civilians with a history of mental health issues, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, are being held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza. The letter went on to warn that “time was running out” and gave a deadline of just under four months.

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The Shin Bet in a statement said it had “no intention of allowing a deliberate threat against a prime minister that was placed on the grave of an Israeli hero pass, and they will handle the incident with all the tools at their disposal.”

Yoni Netanyahu was killed in the Ugandan capital of Entebbe during a 1976 IDF commando raid to free Israeli and Jewish hostages whose airplane had been hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.