Ilana Sporta
Ilana SportaNo credit

Ilana Sporta, a 65-year-old Ashkelon resident who was accused of sending bullets and threatening letters to the family of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last year, has admitted to her crimes, apologized to the Bennett family, and is now expected to reach a plea bargain.

Accordingly, an amended indictment has been submitted against her, detailing attempted extortion via threats.

Sporta has been identified as a political activist who took part in protests and demonstrations and also used social media to spout her opinions. Sporta expressed her opposition to Bennett over a number of months, cursing him and defaming him and wishing him dead. In April, 2022, she began threatening to murder him as well as his wife and his young son, Yoni, if he did not resign from the premiership.

Sporta then composed two letters, one for Gilat Bennett, the wife of the then-Prime Minister, and another to their son, addressing both envelopes in her own handwriting. She sent one of the letters to the office where Gilat Bennett was employed and the other to the family's home.

Both letters were opened by private security officials, and in each was found a bullet along with a letter. The first letter read: "This is the bullet that will strike your soft underbelly, Naftali Bennett, and will wound Yoni, if you don't resign." The second letter read: "This is the bullet that will wound and neutralize Gilat the rascal or you, Naftali Bennett, you fiend - my advice to you is: resign."