Sharon gets 70 death threats
2005-02-28 13:45
Jerusalem - Right-wing extremists have made 70 death threats against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the past three months over his plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip, according to the head of the domestic intelligence service Shin Beth.
Avi Dichter was quoted by Israeli media as telling Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting that many of the threats referred to the fate of the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir in Tel Aviv nearly 10 years ago.
"Yigal Amir is alive, Rabin is dead, and Sharon is also going to die," said one threat, while another charged that "the government has declared war on the Torah and Judaism."
Sharon told his ministers that he was not bothered by the threats, which, he said, reflected a wider "malaise" in Israeli society.
The premier, who was once seen as the ultimate champion of the settlers, revealed earlier this month that he had hired security guards to protect the grave of his late wife after extremists threatened to dig up her body.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told the cabinet that a unit was being set up to investigate extremists calling for violent resistance to the pullout due to begin in July.
The unit will be in charge of combating all types of incitement.
"Our policy with respect to crimes of violence is one of zero tolerance," said public prosecutor Shai Nitzan, who will head up the new unit.
As of July 20, the Israeli government is set to uproot the 8 000 Jewish settlers living in the occupied Gaza Strip and several hundred living in four isolated enclaves in the northern West Bank.