(JTA) — Israeli police are increasing security at the U.S. Embassy and at the home of U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro 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, the Times of Israel reported, and a threatening message was posted anonymously on the envoy’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 United States 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, which was negotiated by the United States and other world powers. President Barack Obama is campaigning for the deal, while Republicans mostly oppose it.
