Man gets 6 months in prison for threatening minister’s life over religious reforms
Ashkelon resident convicted for calling Matan Kahana’s office and warning he would ‘end up like’ assassinated PM Yitzhak Rabin
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A man from southern Israel was sentenced to prison Tuesday for making a death threat against Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana.
The Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court handed Binyamin Dezanshvili, a resident of the coastal city, a six-month prison sentence. He also received a four-month suspended sentence.
The judge said Dezanshvili admitted to threatening that Kahana would suffer the same fate as assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Dezanshvili was arrested and charged in January after using his cellphone to call Kahana’s office and telling a worker to relay a message to the minister.
“Tell him to stop harming the Rabbinate or rabbis. I am telling you, in the end, he will end up like Rabin. Someone will take him down because he is harming the rabbis and the Rabbinate,” he threatened, according to the indictment.
The man also accused Kahana, who is Orthodox, of only wearing religious garb for show.
Kahana was provided additional security last year due to threats he received over his plans to reform issues of state and religion, weakening ultra-Orthodox hegemony in many places. His intentions have drawn criticism from ultra-Orthodox leaders, among them Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau.
The religious affairs minister, a member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s right-wing Yamina party, says his initiatives are aimed at strengthening Israel’s Jewish character.
The Times of Israel Community.