In recent weeks, the Prime Minister's Office contacted the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) with a request to investigate threats received against Prime Minister Yair Lapid's wife, Lihi Lapid, in an anonymous email.
Several emails were sent this month from the same address, containing blasphemy, curses and threats against Lapid and her family members.
The request was accepted by the agency, and the person who sent the emails was located and warned. The Shin Bet said it had determined that the threat level was low and security instructions were forwarded to Lapid's protective detail.
"The incitement and division are coming - it's terrible and scary," said Lihi Lapid following a report in Walla regarding the threats. "This is another reminder of why we must all find [what unifies and connects us]."
Last month, Lapid received an e-mail that wished her family to end up "smeared on the road" and be afflicted by "brain metastases."
"The incitement and division are coming - it's terrible and scary."
Lihi Lapid
"How did a whore like you and a dog like your husband get to such a status," read the title of the email.
A few days later, another email arrived from the same address, insulting members of Lapid's family, including her children, with similar words.
An email was also sent to Lapid's sister and her family, reading, "They will end up like Yair's b**** sister on the road and Yair the son of the Nazi whore will have cancer. Shlomit and Yair Mengele will have cancer in their eyes, amen, and every day we pray for this soon at your funerals burn."
Has this happened before?
About two months ago, an indictment was filed against Ilana Sporta Haniya, a political activist, for blackmailing then-prime minister Naftali Bennett, and for possessing and carrying a weapon. Sporta, a 64-year-old resident of Ashkelon, wrote two threatening letters: the first envelope was addressed in her handwriting to Gilat Bennett, and she sent it to the college in Ra'anana where Bennett works.
The envelope contained a 5.56mm bullet and a sheet of paper with the printed text: "This is the bullet. May it hurt your soft belly, Naftali Bennett, and it will directly hurt Yoni Bennett if you don't resign."
The second envelope was addressed in her handwriting to Yoni, Bennett's son, and sent to the family home in Ra'anana. Inside this envelope, Sporta placed a bullet of the same size and a sheet of paper reading: "This is the bullet that will hit Winter, your Gilat the swindler or you, Naftali Bennett the swindler, [I advise you to] resign."
Sporta is a political activist who often publishes political ads on social networks and participates in political demonstrations and protests.