Elderly woman accused of plotting to kill Israeli PM with rocket launcher

JESRUSALEM - A terminally ill 73-year-old Israeli woman has been charged with plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a rocket launcher, prosecutors said on Thursday.

According to the indictment, the woman, an anti-government activist from Tel Aviv whose identity has not been released, decided to kill Netanyahu after she learned of her diagnosis.

She consequently decided to "sacrifice" her life in order to "save" the State of Israel from the current government, the prosecutor quoted her saying.

She reportedly shared her plan with another activist and asked him to help her purchase a rocket-propelled grenade to carry out the assassination.

She also asked him for his assistance in collecting information on the prime minister's agenda, movements, and security arrangements, the prosecutor said.

The man refused to cooperate and tried to dissuade her but after realising that his attempts were in vain, he reported her to the authorities, leading to her arrest.

The prosecutor requested to keep the woman under house arrest until the end of the legal proceedings, arguing that she still poses a danger, as evidenced by her statements that she was willing to die as a "martyr".

An Israeli man was arrested last year after threatening to kill Netanyahu in a social media post.

High-profile political assassinations are not unheard of in Israel. In 1995, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was killed by a far-right militant for his endorsement of the Oslo peace process with Palestinians.