Yair Netanyahu asks AG to investigate threats against him

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son has asked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to investigate alleged threats and incitement again him, saying he is concerned they could lead to attacks.

In a letter dated July 13, the premier’s lawyer said Yair Netanyahu has been subject to “the most serious and severe online bullying there is” and he has also received threats against his person.

“My client is very afraid for his life,” Amit Hadad, who is representing the prime minister in a series of graft cases, wrote in the letter.

He asked Mandelblit to instruct “the relevant elements” in the police and Justice Ministry to investigate those behind the alleged threats against Yair Netanyahu.

The letter included an appendix of social media posts, letters and graffiti against Netanyahu, including a tweet about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments last march comparing Yair Netanyahu to the white supremacist who gunned down 51 Muslim worshipers at a mosque in New Zealand.

Yair Netanyahu himself has frequently generated controversy in recent years with his inflammatory social media posts.

Last week, he apologized to a leading television anchor for implying she obtained her position through sexual favors, after facing a threat of a lawsuit.

In 2017, he drew international condemnation after attacking critics of his parents with a cartoon that employed anti-Semitic tropes.

He has also used social media to call a police chief autistic and to accuse the president and Knesset speaker of plotting a coup, and has become embroiled in a number of libel suits, both as defendant and complainant.