Haredi MK accuses Yesh Atid lawmaker of making death threat
Yakov Litzman asks for security detail after Dov Lipman warns he will ‘do something’; Lipman denies he implied any physical harm
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MK Yakov Litzman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party claimed Wednesday that Yesh Atid MK Dov Lipman issued death threats against him during a heated Knesset session — allegations Lipman swiftly denied.
According to the ultra-Orthodox Kikar HaShabat website, after the stormy discussion on tax breaks for new homeowners — during which the Haredi MKs were said to insult Lipman repeatedly, and refer to him as ‘Yair Lapid’s Haredi’ — Lipman approached Litzman and asked him to stop the name-calling.
“He came over to me and said that if I don’t stop mocking him, he’ll do something to me. I saw it as a death threat,” Litzman told the Haredi website. “I think he is unstable. I will file a complaint and the Knesset will take care of it.”
Litzman said he had requested a Knesset security detail after the conversation.
Lipman told the Haredi news site that he had simply told Litzman that he would get him back personally, and insisted the remark was not intended as a threat.
Lipman flatly rejected Litzman’s accusations when he spoke to the Times of Israel on Thursday.
The relationship between the ultra-Orthodox MKs of United Torah Judaism and Lipman — an Orthodox rabbi himself — is reportedly strained, due to Yesh Atid’s spearheading of a bill extending mandatory military or national service to the ultra-Orthodox community.
The Times of Israel Community.