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LONDON — A British government minister announced he is quitting politics after receiving a string of death threats he believes are related to his pro-Israel views.
Mike Freer, a Conservative MP who serves as justice minister, said he will step down at the next election. It comes after an arson attack on his constituency office last month, which he described as “the final straw.”
In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper, Freer said he felt “lucky to be alive” after narrowly escaping a confrontation with Ali Harbi Ali, an extremist who was given a life sentence for murdering Conservative MP David Amess.
Freer, who is gay and has also received homophobic abuse, said his husband had become “incredibly jittery” since learning that Ali had visited Freer’s constituency office before his deadly attack on Amess with the intention of killing him.
In the aftermath of the arson attack on his office, Freer said he received an email describing him as “the kind of person who deserved to be set alight.”
“There comes a point when the threats to your personal safety become too much,” he said.
Freer’s decision to step down will lead to fresh scrutiny of the security of Britain’s MPs. Amess was the second MP to be murdered in the past decade, after the Labour MP Jo Cox was killed in 2016 by a white supremacist. MPs often complain of persistent abuse and death threats on social media.
Some MPs, including Freer, have also said they now wear stab vests when meeting constituents.
Freer represents a heavily Jewish constituency and has defended Israel amid its assault on Gaza following last October’s attacks by Hamas. He told the Mail he believes his views on Israel have led to him being targeted by anti-semites.
