Woman, 65, arrested over menacing letters, bullets sent to Bennett and his family

A 65-year-old woman from the south of the country has been arrested on suspicion of sending threatening letters to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s family, police said Monday.

The woman is thought to be behind the two letters sent last month to the premier and his family, both of which contained a live bullet.

The Walla news site said the woman was a resident of the coastal city of Ashkelon, and had a history of writing social media posts against the prime minister.

“Bennett, only the stopping of your heart will bring salvation,” she wrote on social media, according to the report.

The woman, who has not been identified, was arrested as part of a joint investigation by the police’s Lahav 433 serious crimes unit and the Shin Bet security agency.

Police said at the time that both letters contained “detailed murder threats” toward the Bennetts and security officials believe whoever sent them had “gathered information” about the family.

The first threatening letter was addressed to Bennett and to his wife Gilat and was delivered, with a bullet, to a building adjacent to the family home, where Gilat’s office is located.

Two days later, a letter addressed to Bennett’s 15-year-old son, Yoni, also with a bullet, was sent to the family home in Ra’anana.

Yoni Bennett, the son of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, attends a ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, as Israel marks annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, on April 27, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Both letters included a direct threat to Bennett, warning he must resign from office or his family would be “harmed.”

Bennett said at the time that political disputes shouldn’t devolve into “violence, bullying or death threats.”

“I’m the prime minister and a political figure, but I’m also a husband and father and it’s my duty to protect my wife and children,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

He urged “everybody, from across the political spectrum, and especially people who are active on social media” to “lower the flames of political discourse.”

Police have investigated a number of threats against the prime minister in the past, usually made over social media.