A Modiin Illit resident was arrested and detained on suspicion of making repeated threats against a Bnei Brak police station commander, with a magistrate's court ruling that the remarks constitute genuine threats of physical violence rather than casual expressions, according to reporting from Kikar HaShabbat first published by Galei Tzahal radio.
Moshe Cohen is suspected of making multiple threats against Superintendent Yuval Shavit, commander of the Bnei Brak police station, including crude language describing potential violence and explicit statements about harming him.
The magistrate's court extended Cohen's detention for four days. In its ruling, the court found that the remarks attributed to Cohen were not merely "death wishes" or casual talk but constituted actual threats from which authorities could infer both intent and possibility of planning physical harm, according to Kikar HaShabbat.
Among the statements attributed to Cohen, according to the reporting: "If they would tear the pants off the Bnei Brak station commander, maybe he wouldn't tear them off others." The vulgar phrasing was directed at Shavit in connection with a contentious demonstration on Highway 4 approximately two months prior.
Cohen is known as an activist in protests opposing the conscription of yeshiva students into the Israel Defense Forces. According to Kikar HaShabbat, approximately one month and a half ago, Cohen visited Yechezkel Drotman, a prominent anti-conscription activist, after Drotman's release from detention on suspicion of assaulting a policewoman during the Highway 4 protest. Cohen reportedly gave Drotman a fruit tray as a gesture of appreciation.
The detention extension reflects authorities' assessment that Cohen's remarks crossed the threshold from protest speech into potential criminality. The court's decision to classify the threats as serious rather than rhetorical underscores official concern about the intensity of anti-conscription activism and associated threats against police.
