Israel increases security for US envoy after death threats over Iran deal

JERUSALEM POST – Israeli police are increasing security at the United States Embassy and at US Ambassador Dan Shapiro’s home in response to death threats he has received related to the Iran nuclear deal.

Several threatening letters have arrived at the embassy, which is in Tel Aviv, over the past week, numerous Israeli media outlets reported, and a threatening message was posted anonymously on Shapiro’s Facebook page.

The Facebook post referred to Shapiro, who is Jewish, as a “kapo,” the term for Jews drafted to do the work of Nazis during the Holocaust, and said the US had “abandoned Israel.”

Israel and many centrist American Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League, oppose the Iran nuclear deal, which lifts sanctions in exchange for the Islamic Republic restricting nuclear activity.

Congress has until late September to decide whether or not to reject the deal, negotiated by the United States and other world powers. President Barack Obama is campaigning for the deal, while Republicans mostly oppose it.