Argaman Advises Assuaging Acrimonious Air as Attack Atmosphere Arises  

While Israel is entering one of its more fateful and explosive weeks in recent memory, the head of the country’s security agency on Saturday published a rare statement warning of a radicalization of the “incitement-filled public discourse in recent weeks” which could potentially lead to “violent and illegal activity and even loss of life.” Nadav Argaman, chief of the Israel Security Agency, also known as the Shin Bet, went on to call on public figures to do more to end the escalating rhetoric on social media and other platforms. Following last week’s announcement by right-wing lawmaker Naftali Bennett of his intention to form a unity government with center-left parties, and intensifying ahead of next week’s crucial vote in parliament in which the coalition is set to be sworn in, thousands of right-wing protesters have begun demonstrating outside the homes of Bennett and his political partners, denouncing them as traitors and burning their pictures. On Friday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu published a Facebook post comparing Bennett and his allies to the 10 biblical Israelite spies, who are accused of treacherously lying to and betraying their people.