Uri Ariel at the Knesset, May 13, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel has been given increased security after receiving threatening messages on his phone, Channel 2 news reported Wednesday.
Ariel, a senior member of the Jewish Home party, has been one of the coalition’s most controversial figures due to his hard-right positions, particularly in regards to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Jews’ rights therein.
In recent days the minister received threatening text messages, one of which promised him “a martyr’s death” while another portrayed him in Nazi garb.
“Wait when you leave home, the knife is waiting for you. The knife intifada (is) a response to your abuse of the Palestinian people,” one message said.
In light of the threats, Ariel has been given a personal bodyguard escort.
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The minister has repeatedly stated his wish to reinstate Jewish prayers at the site, contrary to the Israeli commitment to maintain the status quo at the site, and has called for the construction of a third Jewish Temple at the site.
Ariel has visited the contested compound on several occasions including a visit this past September that was followed by days of Palestinian rioting, as tensions over the status of the site escalated.
Minister Uri Ariel on the Temple Mount on March 16, 2014 (photo credit: Uri Ariel’s spokesman’s office)
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