Man arrested for making online death threats to MK Stav Shaffir
Investigators were able to identify suspect even though he used a false name to post Instagram message, police say
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Police said Tuesday they had arrested a man for making death threats via social media against MK Stav Shaffir.
The suspect, 42, a resident of Tel Aviv, denies the allegations against him.
He was brought before the city’s Magistrate’s Court for a remand hearing but released from custody.
He is accused of writing about Shaffir, “I will kill you, I will stab you, you leftist” on the Instagram photo-sharing site.
Police arrested the man on Monday following an investigation that began on January 15 when a complaint was filed about the threat.
The suspect masked his identity by using a fake name, but investigators were nonetheless able to identify him, police said.
Shaffir, who leads the Green Party, announced in January that she would not be seeking to maintain her seat in the coming March 2 elections after she was excluded from a left-wing alliance. Shaffir had weighed the possibility of an independent run with the Green Party, but ultimately reached the conclusion that it would not cross the electoral threshold and risked wasting thousands of left-wing votes.
In March 2019 Shaffir also complained about deaths threats she received after she filed petitions to prevent the far-right Otzma Yehudit party from running in April’s elections. Following a police investigation, a resident of Mazkeret Batya was arrested and later charged.
The Times of Israel Community.