Israel: Palestinians arrested in suspected plot to attack Itamar Ben Gvir

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Itamar Ben Gvir: The far-right minister is the most controversial member of Netanyahu's cabinet

Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg / dpa

Violence is escalating again in Israel.

Now it has become known that a member of the government was apparently intended to be the target of an attack.

Far-right Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has announced the arrest of a Palestinian suspected of plotting an assassination attempt against him.

The "Arab suspect," a Jerusalem resident, planned the assassination of Ben Gvir and was arrested by police "a few weeks ago," the minister's office said on Tuesday.

According to this, the suspect collected information about the minister's trips and "received money from 'terrorist elements of a neighboring country' for carrying out the murder".

The country was not specified in the communication.

46-year-old Ben Gvir is one of the most radical and controversial members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new right-wing government, which was sworn in at the end of December.

Ben Gvir has repeatedly been accused of intentionally fueling tensions with the Palestinians.

The lawyer and father of six lives in one of the most radical settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

There had recently been serious riots by Israeli settlers in the West Bank after two young Israelis were fatally injured by gunfire in the Palestinian town of Huwara on Sunday.

Ben Gvir had also campaigned for a bill that would allow courts "to impose the death penalty on terrorists."

The Israeli government launched the bill on Sunday.

asc/AFP