Israel’s Education Minister will be given increased security protection, following a string of death threats against her over her position regarding COVID vaccinations for minors on school campuses.
Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton (New Hope) will begin receiving the added security starting Monday, following a series of death threats against her and the apparent murder of one of her advisors.
Earlier this month, Sa’aher Ismail was shot to death in the Israeli-Arab town of Rameh in northern Israel.
Following his death, a Tel Aviv man, identified as 57-year-old Rafaeli Cohen, vowed to murder Shasha-Biton if she refused to drop her opposition to offering COVID vaccinations to children at school campuses.
Posting a link to a story on Ismail’s murder, Cohen wrote to a Whatsapp group: “This is the final warning to Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton – before your family gets hurt – if you don’t back off from your opposition to vaccinating in schools, your advisor who was eliminated on Sunday by being shot as he left his home will be the last warning before your family gets hurt. Pay attention, we don’t just talk, we eliminate people and murder them.”
Cohen was arrested for the threat, and on Friday was indicted at the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court.