The Shin Bet confirmed an Iranian threat against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair, on Saturday after reports circulated following his quick evacuation from Florida back to Israel.
“There was indeed a significant threat to harm Yair Netanyahu, and in light of this, following a situation assessment, a decision was made to extract him together with his security team urgently back to Israel,” the Shin Bet stated.
The original report about the Iranian threat was published on the Boca Raton-based Newsmax website on Tuesday, citing a US law enforcement source allegedly familiar with the situation.
The report stated that Israeli intelligence discovered an Iranian plot in December to assassinate Yair in Florida and passed a warning to US authorities.
The US source told Newsmax that, according to the intelligence assessment, Iranian operatives were already “on the ground” in the Miami area and had even conducted surveillance on Yair’s residence and movements.
Yair, who is accompanied by close Israeli security at all times, was instructed to leave the location immediately.
According to the report, he left without taking his belongings and returned directly to Israel, where he currently lives.
Netanyahu speaks on the threat against his son
Last week, the prime minister revealed in an interview with Channel 14 that Iran had attempted to assassinate one of his sons, but declined to say whether the target was Yair or Avner.
“There is something here that is unimaginable,” Netanyahu said. “Iran marked one of my sons. Iran tried to murder him – tried to murder one of my sons.”