“Three suspects were arrested overnight for their involvement in the incident,” which took place in Caesarea, in the center of the country, they said in a statement. No information has filtered out on the identity of the suspects or their motivations. The court ordered a ban on the publication of information on the investigation or the identity of the suspects for a period of 30 days, the press release said.
Around 7:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. GMT) on Saturday, two flares landed in the courtyard in front of the Prime Minister's residence, according to the police and the Shin Beth who had mentioned “a serious incident” and “a dangerous escalation”. Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, a member of the right-wing Likud party led by the Israeli prime minister, accused the anti-government protest movement of fueling the attack. “The writing was on the walls, on the roads, in the inflammatory messages and in the demonstrations,” he wrote on X.
Following the incident, Israeli President Isaac Herzog also warned of “an escalation of violence in the public sphere” on X. In opposition, Benny Gantz, former member of the Israeli war cabinet and head of the National Union party (center), also pointed to a drift in the protest movement. “If the suspicions are well-founded and if protest activists are behind the firing of flares at the Prime Minister's house, it must be said clearly and unambiguously: this is not a protest, it is terrorism,” he wrote on X.
“While I deeply disagree with Netanyahu and often criticize him, and while I have no doubt that the people should re-elect their leaders […] Benjamin Netanyahu is not a murderer and is not an enemy, we must only demonstrate against him and against the government in accordance with the law,” he added.
The judicial reform promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and his far-right allies deeply fractured the country in 2023 by giving birth to one of the most important protest movements in Israeli history. In addition to abandoning the reform, the movement is demanding the departure of Benjamin Netanyahu, indicted in corruption cases.
