A severe indictment was filed Sunday against Raz Weinberger, 49, a member of a civilian security team from Kibbutz Ein HaHoresh, accused of waging a systematic and violent incitement campaign on the social network X that included explicit and horrifying calls to murder Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, coalition lawmakers, bereaved family members, and right-wing supporters.
2+The indictment, filed in Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court, charges Weinberger with 10 counts of incitement to terrorism and 18 counts of incitement to violence, alongside an unusual request to keep him behind bars until the end of legal proceedings and to confiscate the mobile phone used to commit the offenses.
According to the indictment, over a period of about a month and a half—during the heated campaign for the 26th Knesset—the defendant published 21 inciting and extremely radical posts on his account. Among other things, Weinberger wrote in response to the prime minister’s posts: “Benjamin Netanyahu, the greatest traitor in the history of the state, deserves death,” and in another post threatened: “Cursed traitor, we must erase the memory of you, burn you together with your psychotic wife and her two sons while you are still alive.” In another instance, he called for Netanyahu to be executed “in a barbaric act of beheading in the city square.”
2+The horrifying calls didn’t spare other public officials and ordinary citizens who supported the government. In response to Knesset Member Almog Cohen, Weinberger wrote: “You sold our children, brazen traitor, your parents should watch as they behead you and throw your head to the Gazans to play soccer with,” and threatened that “he should get a bullet between his eyes.” To Knesset Member Bezalel Smotrich he hurled: “The residents of the outposts should be executed, along with you,” and to Knesset Member Tally Gotliv he wished: “Bring a Nuhba terrorist to tear your ass and then burn you on a small fire.”
The defendant didn’t spare his incitement from Boaz Miran either—brother of hostage Omri Miran and member of the “Heroism Forum”—writing to him: “Your stupidity is dangerous, we need to execute castrated idiots like you,” alongside repeated threats against right-wing supporters and their children of being shot “with a bullet in the head” and being put before a firing squad.
In the detention-until-end-of-proceedings request, prosecutors emphasized that Weinberger’s posts, their systematic nature, intensity, and repetitiveness, indicate an exceptional and profound danger he poses to the public and its security: “These are not isolated statements or remarks made in the heat of the moment, but rather a sequence of posts in which the defendant repeatedly called for severe violence both against public officials and against any person whose opinions differ from his.” Prosecutors particularly emphasized the fact that until recently, Weinberger held a licensed firearm by virtue of his membership in a civilian security team—a circumstance that substantially amplifies the concern about his ability to actually carry out the murder calls he published.
2+Weinberger was arrested by the National Cyber Unit at Lahav 433, and his detention was initially extended at Rishon LeZion Magistrate’s Court. In his interrogation, he confirmed the account belonged to him and admitted to publishing the harsh statements. Although his attorney argued in previous hearings that the account had low reach with only about 40 followers, and claimed he was someone who served in the reserves and volunteered with the police with no intention of carrying out the threats, the court ruled that the intensity of the incitement, the obsessive preoccupation, the election timing, and the fact that he held a firearm establish a clear danger that doesn’t allow for his release. Now, with the filing of the indictment, the prosecution announced that if convicted, it will demand an actual prison sentence.