In an interview with Ido Tauber on the afternoon news program, Zehut party leader Moshe Feiglin revealed new details Monday about the Bar-Ilan University lecturer arrested on suspicion of planning terror attacks. Feiglin described how letters he received over the years—initially dismissed as fringe correspondence—turned out to be part of an extortion scheme designed to pressure him into participating in the lecturer’s activities.
1+“For several years I’ve been getting strange letters that I mentally tagged as coming from some not-entirely-stable person,” Feiglin said in the interview. “While we were walking to say Selichot prayers—all of Zehut party together with my staff—someone handed these letters to my staff to give to me, and they did open them. It turned out there was really an attempt to extort me, trying to pressure me to join some kind of strange organization like this.”
Feiglin was surprised to discover the identity of the person behind the correspondence: “We immediately filed a police complaint, and the man was arrested. And it turned out to be something I couldn’t have imagined: a math lecturer at the university planning to activate me to do such a thing! It would have sounded completely insane. But indeed, that’s what it was.” He said he deals with various types of messages and threats from Arabs online, but emphasized that he continues his normal routine and is not afraid.
1+Earlier Monday, the State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment at the Lod Central District Court against the math lecturer, a man in his 60s from Petah Tikva. The charges include preparation to commit an act of terror, extortion by threats, and obstruction of justice. According to the police and Shin Bet investigation, the defendant acted for more than three years from a nationalist-ideological motive and planned an attack against Arab citizens.
Bar-Ilan University said in a statement: “The university condemns and is shocked by the acts attributed to the lecturer in the indictment. University management calls on the police and prosecution to pursue the maximum penalty against him if the allegations are proven true. The university has and will have zero tolerance for such phenomena that contradict the values of all of us as Jews, as Israelis and as human beings, and certainly the values of Bar-Ilan University. The lecturer has been suspended immediately pending the conclusion of proceedings.”