Israel PM Naftali Bennett's family receives death threat and bullet in mail
Jerusalem, Apr 28: Family of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has received a death threat and bullet in the mail for the second time this week, the police said Thursday.
According to an Israeli official familiar with the matter, the target of the threats was Bennett's 17-year-old son. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Officials have not said who might be behind the threats.
Bennett, who leads a small nationalist party, has come under heavy criticism from Israeli hard-liners who accuse him of abandoning his ideology. In 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish ultranationalist opposed to his peacemaking attempts with the Palestinians.
Also, tensions have been heightened with the Palestinians recently following a series of deadly Palestinian attacks in Israeli cities, Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site.
In a nationwide speech marking Israel's Holocaust memorial day, Bennett lamented the deep polarization in Israeli society as he warned his citizens against letting internal divisions tear society apart.
My brothers and sisters, we cannot, we simply cannot allow the same dangerous gene of factionalism dismantle Israel from within, Bennett said in Wednesday night's ceremony, broadcast on national TV.
Bennett's speech, coming on one of Israel's most solemn days of the year, came in a deeply personal context. On Tuesday, his family received the first letter with a live bullet and a death threat. Israeli authorities tightened security around the premier and his family and were investigating.
That prompted his son oldest son Yoni to write on Instagram how upsetting the episode had been.
It's just sad to see that real people write such horrible things, he said. To think that he lives and breathes like me but has a brain that was created by the devil is crazy.
Israeli media said Yoni, who is 17, was the target of Thursday's threats.
Police have said they are investigating both incidents. They have placed a gag order on the investigations and released few details.
Bennett leads a narrow coalition that recently lost its parliamentary majority. His government is made up of eight parties that have little in common beyond their shared animosity to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Netanyahu, now the opposition leader, has worked hard to deepen divisions within the coalition.
Bennett's government was formed after four inconclusive elections, underscoring the fissures in society over key issues, including the conflict with the Palestinians and relations between religious and secular Jews.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
TMC MLA Humayun Kabir apologises for claiming 'coterie' influencing Mamata's decisions
Kolkata (PTI): Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir has apologised to the party's leadership for his recent comment that a "coterie" was influencing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's key decisions.
Kabir, the MLA of Bharatpur in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, expressed his apology on Friday in reply to a show cause notice issued by the party's disciplinary committee.
"Yes, I have sent a reply. I will certainly follow party discipline. But I think being a person from the rural belt, not conversant with the ways of the city, I faced this situation for speaking my mind. However, I had not said anything against my party or its leadership," he told reporters.
"Our CM epitomises the spirit of 'Maa-Mati-Manush' and being a person of the grassroots level, I always stay rooted to the ground. Maybe I should have been more careful about my way of expressing," he said.
A senior member of the TMC's legislative disciplinary committee said the reply to the show cause letter was received, and a decision on it will be communicated soon.
Kabir, however, said some other TMC MPs had on earlier occasions made comments against party colleagues but were not censured.
On Thursday, he met the CM in the assembly's lobby where she had asked him to reply to the show-cause notice first.
On November 26, Kabir had said a coterie within the party was taking certain decisions to cement their position and was influencing the CM's key decisions for their short-term gains.
He had said this a day after the TMC national executive meeting where the party had categorically asked its leaders not to make comments in public against any internal decision and formed disciplinary committees at different levels.
Kabir had earlier advocated for giving more responsibility to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, reiterating that the Diamond Harbour MP was undoubtedly the number two in the party's hierarchy and those trying to undermine his influence would not succeed.
