Police: Attacks on Channel 2 execs could be connected

Police believe there might be a connection between the unsolved attack on Channel 2 executive Avi Nir a few months ago and the assault of his colleague Shira Margalit last week.

"Recently we've witnessed violent assaults on two senior media figures," Police Commissioner David Cohen said yesterday at the unveiling ceremony of a new police station in Rishon Letzion. "We are carrying out intensive investigations into these incidents and trying to determine whether they are related. We consider any attempt to harm a public figure, policeman or any other person because of his occupation, as being very severe."

Nir is the director general of Keshet and Margalit is the deputy director general of Reshet, the two concessionaires which jointly operate Channel 2, one of two commercial television stations in Israel.

Margalit was hit in the face outside her house in the Tzahala neighborhood of Tel Aviv last Wednesday by an unknown assailant. Margalit's partner, advertising executive Ilan Shiloah, came out of the house when he heard her screams and confronted the attacker. After a short scuffle the assailant sprayed tear gas at Shiloah and managed to get away in a BMW that was waiting for him, according to eye witnesses.

Police say the entire incident was recorded by a security camera placed by Margalit and her partner outside their home.

Margalit, who is the daughter of journalist and television celebrity Dan Margalit, took herself to Ichilov Hospital, where doctors decided to keep her overnight for tests.

Nir was attacked outside his house in north Tel Aviv in November 2008 as he was walking his dog. He was surrounded by a group of unknown assailants who asked for him to identify himself before beating him. Nir sustained light to moderate wounds in the attack.

Police say they are still considering a number of lines of investigation in the Nir attack, including that the assault was the result of an attempted robbery. However, they added that in light of the second attack on a Channel 2 executive in a short period of time they now consider that option to be less likely.

The police probe originally focused on an investigative report that the station had aired about the Gan Oranim events hall.