Police chief Cohen receives death threat in mail

Police Ins.-Gen. receive

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen has received a death threat in the form of a letter, a police source told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday evening. The source said a "document" was sent to police headquarters in Jerusalem. "It is being examined closely," the source said. Police are unsure where the letter came from. Channel 2 reported on Sunday that the letter may have come from settler elements enraged over recent remarks made by Cohen, in which he condemned an arson attack on a Palestinian mosque in the West Bank village of Yasuf earlier this month. Cohen has also spoken out against violence perpetrated by settler activists who are opposed to a construction freeze in place across Judea and Samaria. Regarding the arson attack on Yasuf, Cohen said "inter-communal violence and property damage will be dealt with firmly by security forces to prevent an escalation," and called for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank to respect the law. But the police source said it was too soon to know who sent the letter, or whether it was even related to recent events in the West Bank. The letter could also have been sent by crime organizations, the source said.