Citing death threats, Democrats petition High Court for Shin Bet to guard Golan

The Democrats party petitions the High Court of Justice to order the Shin Bet to provide security for party leader Yair Golan, citing what it says are dozens of concrete death threats against the former general less than a month before the election.

“The writing is on the wall in blood, they are threatening to hang him in the town square,” the party says in a statement. “We will not sit idly by while the next political assassination is being planned. We demand that the High Court intervene immediately, before it is too late.”

The petition, filed against Shin Bet chief David Zini and the government, notes that even though the police have assessed Golan’s threat level at four out of six — the same level as Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot — security protection has been approved only for Eisenkot.

Among the threats cited in the petition are calls for Golan to receive “a bullet in the head” and to “die in terrible agony,” as well as messages telling him, “We’ll gouge out your eyes,” “You and your family will be wiped out,” and “A person like that shouldn’t be in politics – only a noose.”

“A candidate who cannot appear in public without risking his life is constrained in conducting his election campaign compared with candidates who do not face a similar threat,” the petition says, arguing that an attack on a candidate over his political views during an election campaign would constitute “an attack on the electoral process itself.”

The Democrats have been demanding protection for Golan for months and warned last week that they would petition the court if he was not granted protection by September 27, accusing the government’s Advisory Committee for Personal Security, which must approve the request, of dragging its feet and being politically motivated.

Neither Golan nor Eisenkot is currently an MK and therefore neither automatically receives the security protection afforded to elected officials.