Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly criticized Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Tuesday over what Netanyahu said was Mandelblit’s failure to take seriously violent threats against him and his family.
“Your total lack of action in the face of the calls to murder me and my family, and rape threats against my wife, constitutes scandalous permission to spill our blood,” wrote Netanyahu in a official letter to the legal counsel for the government and public authorities.
“We thought all the red lines had already been crossed; it appears we were wrong,” he added.
Mandelblit responded in his own letter later on Tuesday, writing: “There is no basis to your claim that complaints are being ignored regarding you or any of your family members.”
The attorney general noted that in recent months 29 investigations had been opened over such threats and 10 more cases of possible incitement were under investigation, and stated that he was regularly in touch with police and security officials to discuss potential threats.
In a parting shot at the end of the letter, Mandelblit wrote: “Public figures also have a central role in calming things down.”
