Israeli police have arrested three suspects over two flares that were fired at the private residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday.
No one was home to be injured by the flares, which were fired at Netanyahu’s home in the northern coastal city of Caesarea. The prime minister and his family were away at the time of the incident.
According to police, the flares fell in the property’s garden.
According to local media, Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court issued a court order on Sunday to prevent the publication of any details of the investigation or the identities of the suspects for 30 days. Reports identified the suspects as prominent members of the anti-government protest movement in Israel.
Police said they jointly interrogated the suspects with Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the incident and urged against “an escalation of the violence in the public sphere.” He said he had spoken with Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who described the incident as “a dangerous escalation” of violent actions that law enforcement “will not tolerate” and will treat “with the utmost severity.”
Bar noted that “firing flare guns at the prime minister’s residence is a very serious incident that is far from legitimate protest.”
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi called for Israel’s attorney general to be fired and blamed her for incitement against the government. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has been in the spotlight since September, when government ministers accused her of being overly lenient with anti-Netanyahu activists, alleging that her failure to act is bringing Israel “closer with great strides to a catastrophe—to the murder of the prime minister.”
Despite the police and Shin Bet asking for the suspects to be held in custody for 12 days over the incident, the Magistrate’s Court ordered them to be held for five days.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that the incident crossed “all red lines.”
“It is not possible for the Prime Minister of Israel, who is threatened by Iran and its proxies who are trying to assassinate him, to be subject to the same threats from home,” he said on social media platform X.
Opposition member Benny Gantz, chairman of Lapid and National Unity, said of the incident, “This is not a protest—this is terrorism.”
“Although I deeply disagree with Netanyahu and often criticize him ... Netanyahu is not a murderer and is not an enemy. One should demonstrate against him and the government only according to the law,” he said on X. “This is the position of the absolute majority of those who oppose this government. And this is the only correct position.”
Last month, Hezbollah struck the prime minister’s home with a drone attack, which occurred also when Netanyahu and his family were not there.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s incident.
