Should Netanyahu worry over violent protests against him?
As political and public energy that has welled up against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the last few years is about to burst the floodgates, some worry he could be the target of an assassination attempt.
“Preventing the assassination of a prime minister and attacks on his family” was the heading of an unusual letter that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri sent to the head of the Shin Bet, Nadav Argaman, on July 19. Reading between the lines, it was easy to see the genuine concern expressed by someone who had served in the Cabinet of Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister who was assassinated 25 years ago. Deri is now worried about another political assassination.
In his letter to Argaman, Deri wrote that he cannot stand silent when confronting the unrestrained and dangerous rhetoric he is hearing, with its calls to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and attack his family. He then asked the head of the Shin Bet to take the necessary steps to prevent another assassination. He ended his letter by saying, “Israeli society will have a hard time withstanding another event of this magnitude.”
Rabin’s assassination continues to traumatize Israeli society. It was the culmination of uninhibited incitement against the prime minister, who had just signed the Oslo Accords, which involved the evacuation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The country was awash with demonstrations and violence. The writing was on the wall in big, bold letters.
Comparisons between the energy behind the incitement and violence preceding Rabin’s assassination and the mood in the country today are all but inevitable. Rabin paid with his life for the ideological path he chose. His killing came as the climax of countless threats and increasingly vicious personal attacks. Demonstrators held vigil outside his private home. He was accused of everything from treason to murder.
