'You are infected with anti-Semitism, Jew hatred'

Top IDF brass receives written death threats from right-wing extremists in wake of outpost removals.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
gadi shamni 248 88 aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
gadi shamni 248 88 aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni, amongst other top IDF brass, received threatening letters in the wake of the removal of unauthorized outposts in the West Bank, Army Radio reported Thursday. One letter accused Shamni of being "infected with anti-Semitism and hatred of real Jews," and threatened to kill both the general and his children. Similar threats were sent by right-wing extremists during the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and the evacuation of Amona in 2006. "You don't act against the Palestinians, proof that you have made a deal with the Nazi devil, which hates the Jewish nation," another letter said, also calling IDF officers "a gang of Jews with wretched souls, reminiscent of the Judenrat." The same letter went on to say that Shamni's "hands are contaminated with the blood of uprooted Jews," and that he "tramples on Jewish freedom" across Israel. "Very soon, we, the writers of this letter, will lead the nation of Israel to independence," the extremists threatened, "and you, you wretched dwarfs, worshipers of Palestinazis, will pack up your families and leave." The report also noted that the State Attorney had decided not to "gamble" on the matter, and state attorney Shai Nitzan opened a criminal investigation into the threats. Extra protection was also provided to Shamni and his family in the wake of the threats. Speaking to Army Radio on Thursday morning, Maj.-Gen Elazar Stern also mentioned such threats, saying, "To my regret, the state doesn't always deal with these sorts of things with the appropriate gravity." "Who lets these people make high-ranking IDF officials fear for their safety and their children's safety?" he asked. "I simply don't understand how the state lets these things happen."