Man arrested on suspicion of online threats against police minister Barlev

Suspect, 22, from Zichron Yaakov, recently posted content suspected to be incitement to violence against Labor party minister

Public Security Minister Omer Barlev speaks during a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Knesset, in Jerusalem on January 31, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
Public Security Minister Omer Barlev speaks during a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Knesset, in Jerusalem on January 31, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

A man was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of making online threats against Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, Israel Police said in a statement Sunday.

The suspect, a resident of Zichron Yaakov, 22, was taken in for questioning and then released under restrictions, police said.

Officers were alerted over the weekend to posts the suspect had published which raised suspicions of “incitement to violence and threats” against Barlev, a member of the Labor party and the minister responsible for the police.

The statement did not detail what the suspect posted, but the Ynet website reported he wrote that Barlev should be “smashed.”

An investigation was opened and the suspect was arrested shortly afterward, then later released.

The arrest followed an incident in December when another man was arrested who reportedly wrote online of Barlev that “I hope you get lynched, you traitor.”

Though the nature of the alleged threat made by the man most recently arrested was not detailed by police, Barlev has drawn harsh criticism from parts of the West Bank settler community and its supporters after in December he discussed “settler violence” with a visiting US official.

Critics, including fellow members of the government coalition, have accused him of tarring the settler population over the actions of a small minority of extremists who engage in violence against Palestinians and Israeli left-wing activists.

Several coalition lawmakers have received stepped-up security in recent months, many of them right-wingers who have been accused of betrayal by their voter base for teaming up with the left and the Arab Ra’am party.

Last month a man was charged with making death threats against Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana over his plans to reform issues of state and religion, weakening ultra-Orthodox hegemony in many places.

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