Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned his Cabinet on Sunday, in the wake of the attempted assassination of U.S. President Donald Trump the day before, that there have been similar threats in Israel.
Netanyahu has been the target of vociferous protests and threats since taking office after the November 2022 elections and implementing promised judicial reforms. The protests — backed by the Biden administration — abated after the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, but have since returned, along with a sense of political division.
The prime minister’s office provided a transcript and translation of Netanyahu’s statement to the Cabinet:
We are witnessing a flood of explicit threats of murder and violence against the Prime Minister and members of his family, and against ministers and public officials. These are not just flagrant criminal offenses, they constitute a direct and explicit threat to democracy. But basically, apart from a few small exceptions, nothing tangible has been done. I turn to the Attorney General and the State Attorney – this is your job.
Basically, against this flood, nothing tangible has been done. Even as we saw under the previous government, and even before then, when there was shameful legal affair on the other side, the arrest of a mother and children, on Shabbat. A letter, which we all condemned, to Prime Minister Bennett – arrest and imprisonment.
But it is impossible to make any comparison to this massive flood of explicit threats, which are criminal offenses, that have been met by inaction and by something else – the silence of senior figures. We have not heard condemnations. Condemnations must also be made. But the senior figures do not open their mouths; neither do they condemn. What there is here is the legitimization of attacking democracy and there is the normalization of political murder here, and everyone feels that there is arbitrary enforcement here.
Because we have seen that in the face of much fewer offenses, if there were such, against right-wing elements, settlers, the ultra-orthodox and Ethiopians – the full force of the law is used, with the severest interpretation of the clauses that were invoked in the arrest of 14- or 15-year old girls, against the minor blocking of roads compared to what is happening today, the full weight of the law is used.
This did not happen gradually. That is not true. I do not accept it. It happened when we returned to power and then it happened in great strength. It started with the demonstrations on Balfour Street in Jerusalem, to the demonstrations against the Attorney General at that time in Petah Tikva, the negotiations on the reform and now demonstrations during the war.
Each time the subject changes but it is directed against the right – and the enforcement is not equal. It is not equal and it is not changing gradually, it is changing sharply. Of course this is gathering strength because they are constantly testing the boundaries.
Then everything is permitted. It is permitted to place grenades, torches, and violently attack the police. It is permitted to block highways with fire. It is permitted, it is permitted, it is permitted. Attacks on democracy are being normalized here. Political murder is being normalized here. We will deal with this next week.
The incident that occurred in the US, many said the writing was on the wall. We are seeing the writing on the wall. We are seeing the writing in the squares. We are seeing the writing on social media. We all see it. The ministers here at the Government table are saying unanimously: ‘This must be genuinely and equally addressed.’ As of now, this has not yet happened.
In November 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing extremist after a peace rally.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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