An anti-government activist from Tel Aviv was arrested two weeks ago on suspicion of conspiring to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel Police confirmed on Wednesday.
The suspect, only identified as a woman in her 70s due to a court-ordered gag order imposed on the case, was arrested by Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) officers and interrogated by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 National Unit for International Crimes, according to the statement.
“To advance and realize her intentions, the suspect contacted additional protest activists to obtain weapons and also inquired about the prime minister’s security arrangements,” police revealed.
The woman had sought to murder the prime minister with an explosive device, according to a report by Israel’s Kan News outlet on Wednesday.
The woman was reportedly released on the condition that she stay away from Netanyahu and government buildings, but was expected to be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and an act of terror.
The suspect’s attorneys, Guy Erenberg and Giora Zilberstein, told Kan News on Wednesday: “We have not yet received the indictment and the evidence, and at this stage we cannot comment on the suspicions.”
Netanyahu has faced heated rhetoric over the years that has sometimes crossed the line into threats, especially during the 2023 judicial reform debate. Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel, the same group of anti-government activists again began demanding his ouster, this time over his management of the war and the hostages held by Hamas.
Around a year ago, Cabinet ministers were shown a video of left-wing incitement against Netanyahu. The clip of inflammatory words and threats against the Jewish state’s leader was compiled a day after an assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The compilation, which was also sent to Israeli media outlets, showed protesters and others calling Netanyahu a “traitor,” “Satan” and an “enemy of the people,” among other inflammatory remarks.
The Shin Bet has instructed Netanyahu and other government ministers to take extra security precautions at public events amid the ongoing seven-front war against Iran and its regional terrorist proxies.
Netanyahu’s security was reportedly upped after a Hezbollah drone hit his private residence in the northern city of Caesarea in mid-October.
