quarta-feira, 30 de novembro de 2011

Death threats sent to peace activists

29 November 2011, Communist Party of Israel המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית http://maki.org.il

A 21 year-old man, was arrested again on Sunday night in connection with death threats he sent via e-mail to members of "Peace Now", last Sunday.

The man in question, whose identity cannot be published due to a gag order, was arrested two weeks ago in connection with a bomb threat and an act of vandalism perpetrated against the Peace Now offices in Jerusalem. There have been a rash of fascists attacks – which vandalize Arab mosques, IDF bases or leftwing sites in retaliation for the dismantling of settlements – in recent months.

(At the night of November 7, 2011, fascists and racists slogans and personal threats were sprayed inside the house of Hagit Ofran, the head of Peace Now's "settlements watch" office. A nearby car, which does not belong to Ofran, was also vandalized, most likely because it sported a "Peace Now" sticker/Photo: Activestills)

The man admitted to the offenses during questioning, saying that he “hates Arabs and leftists.” On Sunday, between 3 and 4 p.m., he sent e-mails to numerous Peace Now activists including director Yariv Oppenheimer and Hagit Ofran, the director of the organization’s Settlement Watch program.

To Oppenheimer he wrote, “Today you die.” To Ofran he sent the message “The end is near, I will kill you and all who are close to you.” The e-mails included the man’s name and e-mail address.

Speaking with The Jerusalem Post on Monday, Ofran said that the incident “is part of a wider phenomenon within the current political atmosphere and public discourse.”

“The Knesset and the government, through legislation and public statements, are trying to silence criticism, the left, and the media,” she said. “The message being broadcast is that those opposing the government are not legitimate and this is inspiring these graffiti attacks and death threats.”

In September the racist suspect phoned Oppenheimer and threatened him, telling him he would “put a bullet in your head.” He also left a beeper message to the same effect.

In October he produced 20 posters with the words “Price tag – to kill, to murder and to slaughter all the Arabs,” and “Death to Arabs,” and hung 20 of them around Mevasseret Zion.

He was brought in for questioning by the police on October 31, released, and ordered to remain in his house until November 4. On November 3, he breached the police order and sprayed graffiti on the Peace Now offices in Jerusalem’s German Colony, painting “Death to Arabs” and other slogans in the occupied east Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina.

Subsequently, on November 6, the suspect again sprayed graffiti on the Peace Now offices and called in a bomb threat that was ultimately proven to be false.

The suspect was indicted on November 17 by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s office on four separate charges, including two counts of issuing threats, one of harassment, two counts of publishing material to incite racial hatred, two counts of damage to private property and one of breaching police orders

"The threat of another political murder exists in Israel", Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told last week the Knesset. The most infamous political murder in Israeli history took place on November 4, 1995 when then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist after a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

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