Israel: teen indicted for death threats against finance minister

The Israeli authorities indicted on Monday a teenager from the illegal Beit Shemesh settlement for sending death threats to Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his family via social media. The 18-year-old man was arrested last Thursday.

“You have destroyed the country with these prices. I’m dying to kill you if I come across you. Get ready, will it be a knife or an axe???” he posted on social media. “I will kill you or your family… What will we drink at Lieberman’s funeral? Whisky or cognac?” he added in another post.

The social media threats came amid an escalation of intense criticism of Lieberman over his attempts to reduce special benefits and exemptions granted to the Haredi sect and religious institutions. He sparked controversy after he said that some religious schools mostly taught idle students, and threatened further funding cuts over their failure to teach core curriculum subjects.

Last month, Rabbi Meir Mazuz of Bnei Brak described Lieberman and other ministers as “worse than Nazis” over a series of government reforms. Meanwhile, Likud parliamentarian Yisrael Katz claimed that Lieberman was “acting like the greatest anti-Semites in history” by pushing through the changes.

READ: Lieberman wants budget cut for university allowing Nakba commemoration