Woman suspected of sending bullets, threats to Bennett’s family identified as Ashkelon resident

The woman suspected of mailing menacing letters and bullets to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his family has been named as Ilana Sporta Hania of Ashdod.

Hania, a fervent supporter of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is identified after the court lifts a gag order on her identity. She was arrested on Monday and remanded into custody today on suspicion that she sent two letters to Bennett’s wife, Gilat, and his son, Yoni, containing bullets and threatening their safety if the prime minister did not resign.

Details emerged today of Hania’s history of activism in support of Likud and against the current government. She has been investigated in the past for threatening politicians with whom she disagrees. In September, Hania was filmed calling on New Hope MK Bennie Begin — a former Likud member — to drown himself in the ocean.

Upon her arrest, police said Hania is suspected of extortion by threats, carrying or transporting weapons, threatening to commit an act of terrorism, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Ordering that she remain in police custody, Judge Erez Melamed said the investigative material demonstrated “a reasonable suspicion of the crime of making threats.”