Man arrested for posting death threats against Druze COGAT chief

Police arrested a right-wing activist Sunday night for posting death threats against Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, who heads the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) office.

The suspect, a Tiberias resident in his 50s named Itzik Magrafta, was arrested after posting online threats against the high-ranking Druze officer, calling him a “Nazi Hamas terrorist in IDF uniform” and urging his followers to “pray for his death.” The posts remained up on his Facebook account the day of his arrest.

In one post, he baselessly accused the officer of arming Hamas and Fatah operatives with “hundreds of thousands of weapons and ammunition in order to destroy the State of Israel” and said he is a “ticking bomb.”

In another, he derided Alian as a “mass rapist of women, a contemptible, defiled, worthless, abhorrent, dirty, bloodthirsty robber, the modern heir of Hitler who is working to destroy the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.”

Police brought the suspect at noon Monday before the Tiberias Magistrate’s Court for an extension of his remand.

Magrafta had previously been implicated in forging evidence that claimed to incriminate a left-wing activist of being an agent for the Palestinian Preventive Security Service. The activist, Neta Hazan, sued Magrafta for libel and won. He was ordered to pay her NIS 65,000 ($19,500) in compensation, according to the Haaretz daily.

Defense Minister Israel Katz welcomed the arrest and issued a statement condemning the incitement.

“I strongly condemn the severe threats directed at Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian and the incitement and defamation spread against him. Violence and threats against IDF officers and security personnel are criminal acts and a red line that must never be crossed,” he said.

Earlier this year, panelists for the right-wing Channel 14 news outlet insinuated in racially charged comments that not just Alian, but the Druze community as a whole, are more beholden to their community than the state.

The panelists began with veiled insinuations regarding the presence of Druze officers in COGAT, which oversees civilian matters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but the segment before long escalated into blatant accusations, claiming the Defense Ministry body bears much responsibility for October 7.

One of the panelists claimed that “dark things are happening at COGAT,” which has many Druze officers within its ranks. “We need fresh blood, someone who will set things right there.”