Police question musician Efraim Shamir for incitement to terrorism against Netanyahu
Kaveret guitarist, who denies the allegations, speculates investigation may relate to his social media posts criticizing PM
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Israeli musician Efraim Shamir was summoned for questioning by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes department on Wednesday.
Shamir, a longtime critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was not initially told why he was being called in.
His lawyer said later that he is under investigation on suspicion of incitement to terrorism and violence against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His lawyer, Yair Nehorai, said Shamir “denies the suspicions” against him.
“Mr. Shamir opposes all violence, and in his worldview, violence is the erosion of the foundation of democracy,” Nehorai added.
Earlier, Shamir told Ynet that he suspected the reason for the summons “might be because of Facebook posts” that are heavily critical of the prime minister and his government, but “I really don’t know.”
“I’m worried about it, but I know who I am and what I am,” he added.
Shamir, a member of 70s pop rock group Kaveret, has drawn ire from Netanyahu and his Likud party before, including in 2019 when he lamented that the premier’s wife, Sara, had not died in place of then-president Reuven Rivlin’s wife Nechama.
In a Facebook post reacting to Nechama Rivlin’s death, Shamir had written, “Why not Sara?”
He doubled down amid fierce backlash, calling Likud lawmakers who criticized him “hypocrites” as they had chosen to back “criminal” Netanyahu, who at the time was the focus of a criminal investigation that led to the charges he is currently on trial for.
In 2020, Shamir posted to Facebook, “Kill the psychopath, his wife the crazy whore, and the repulsive parasite son of a whore,” Ynet reported, in an apparent reference to Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and their elder son, Yair.
“I wonder if that is a good start for a new protest song,” he added.
Last month, police summoned journalist Aviad Glickman for questioning under caution on suspicion that he shoved an employee of Sara Netanyahu earlier in the year during an incident at a courthouse.
Opposition figures panned the move as an attempt to intimidate media and critics of the government.
The Times of Israel Community.