Crime reporter targeted with grenade for second time in a week

A stun grenade was found in the parking lot of a Beersheba building where Channel 12’s crime reporter Shimon Ifergan lives, four days after a military training grenade was left at his doorstep, the channel said.

Police were called to Ifergan’s address early Tuesday morning after the explosive was spotted by a neighbor, after which security forces cordoned off the street, which contains an elementary school, and a police sapper removed the device.

Following Tuesday’s incident, the second in four days, police asked for the public’s help in reporting any suspicious objects found.

Ifergan’s employer, Channel 12, released a statement saying: “We hope that the police will increase its efforts to investigate the threats in light of the increased and very real danger being posed to the lives of journalists in Israel.”

Ifergan works “without fear and without bias, and will continue to do so despite the violence that has arrived – literally – at his doorstep,” the statement said.

On Friday, Ifergan’s nephew found a grenade in a plastic bag by the reporter’s doorstep.

“My nephew arrived on Friday evening to bring food from my mother. He opened the door and said to me ‘Shimon, what is this yellow plastic bag?’ I looked and I saw the grenade rolling toward the entrance. I yelled at him to run away and I called the police,” Ifergan recounted to the Kan public broadcaster.

Ifergan expressed fear for his life, telling the radio station: “It’s possible that after the grenade I’ll get a bullet in the head. I’m not joking.”

Speculating on who might be behind the initial grenade, Ifergan said “This world is very complicated. You write about a certain criminal, and he thinks you’re his enemy, so he sends you a sign.

“It’s difficult for them to accept that you are writing information that is important for the public, that warns the people,” he added.