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Israeli president’s security detail boosted for Gulf visit after online threats

In one of the threats, Israeli President Isaac Herzog was portrayed as a kind of devil, with reddened eyes and lips and flames behind him.

Newly elected Israeli President Isaac Herzog seen at the Israeli Knesset on the day of the presidential elections, in Jerusalem, June 2, 2021. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.
Newly elected Israeli President Isaac Herzog seen at the Israeli Knesset on the day of the presidential elections, in Jerusalem, June 2, 2021. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s personal security will be increased following online threats ahead of his scheduled visit to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.

In one of the threats, Herzog was portrayed as a kind of devil, with reddened eyes and lips and flames behind him. Stamped beneath his distorted image was the word: “Criminal,” Channel 12 reported.

Another online ad read in Arabic: “All normalization is an act of treason, don’t come”—normalization referring to the growing ties between Israel and Gulf State signatories to the Abraham Accords, the peace treaty struck in Sept. 2020.

In January, during Herzog’s last visit to Abu Dhabi, the Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a missile at the country. It was intercepted.

“There was not, and is not, any danger posed to the president and his entourage,” the president’s office stated at the time.

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