Yamina Leaders Threat Level Reaches 5

Leaders of the Yamina party, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, are receiving extra security from the Knesset in the wake of threats to their lives on social media.

The threat level against them has been elevated to Level 5, the second highest, according to a report by N12 on Monday.

The two Yamina leaders now receive a “security basket” from the Knesset, which includes guards at their homes, personal security and an upgraded police presence in their residential areas. Bennett has been issued an armored car.

Images of Bennett in an Arab headdress have appeared on social media recently, recalling similar images which preceded the assassination of prime minister Yitzchak Rabin.

The report comes a day after Bennett announced his decision to enter a government with Yair Lapid’s “change” bloc, which drew angry condemnations from the Likud.

According to the report, no police investigation has been opened, however, as that would require an order from the State Attorney or the Attorney-General.

Meanwhile, Labor Party Secretary General Eran Hermoni filed a complaint with the police on Monday over “leftist traitors” signs which were held aloft during demonstrations near Shaked’s home in Tel Aviv the previous night, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The complaint targets any and all financiers, printers, distributors and activists who were responsible for the signs.

“Defining and labeling them as traitors, no less, has a clear meaning on how to “treat” them,” the Labor Party said in a statement.

“It’s enough to look at the signs to understand: this is not a sporadic or spontaneous protest. Behind this gathering stands a well-oiled system of planning, financing and distribution,” it charged.

Yair Lapid added bitterly: “I have a security detail. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. Prosecutor Liat Ben Ari. Journalists Rina Matzliach, Dana Weiss, Yonit Levy, Amnon Abramovich and Guy Peleg. We’ve all been threatened with violence and murder,” he said, referring to the law enforcement officials who indicted Prime Minister Netanyahu on corruption charges.