MK Katz: State only investigates threats to left wing

National Union MK calls arrest over video calling for murder "provocation by the left and the Shin Bet;" Shin Bet denies employing Bar-Am.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
yaacov katz 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
yaacov katz 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
MK Ya'akov Katz (National Union) published an open letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday, asking if Uri Bar-Am had ever been employed by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
Bar-Am's arrest on Tuesday, on suspicion of uploading a video calling for the murder of deputy state prosecutor Shai Nitzan, "seems to be another provocation by the left and the Shin Bet, in order to blacken the faces of those who contribute most to the state," Katz wrote, referring to settlers.
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In Bar-Am's investigation, he said that he acted alone, but worked as a coordinator for the National Union party, which denied employing Bar-Am.
"Just a few days ago, a call to murder me was published online by a left-wing radical," he added. "I complained to Knesset security and the police, but I did not get any additional security."
Katz added that he did not hear members of the media or academia voice concern for him, as they did for Nitzan.
"We didn't hear it in the media, because we are settlers and religious, meaning we are dust, air, lice, not people," Katz wrote, but when a person on the left is threatened, Katz claimed that "everyone is enlisted to blacken the face of those who contribute most to the state, education and IDF."
In response Katz's letter, Israel Radio reported that the Shin Bet said "Uri Bar-Am had no connection in the past or present to the Israel Security Agency in any way. The attempt to connect Bar-Am to the Shin Bet is completely baseless."
Bar-Am's online video called for Nitzan to be murdered because he allegedly only pursues incitement charges against people calling for the murder of Arabs, and not those who make similar calls against Jews.
The video was posted online less than a week after Nitzan requested that police investigate two Facebook groups for suspicion of inciting racism, including a group entitled “Death to all Arabs.”
Ben Hartman contributed to this report.