A court on Tuesday authorized the publication of the names of three suspects arrested for firing flares at the prime minister’s home in Caesarea overnight from Saturday to Sunday. One of them is a former senior officer in the Israeli navy, who interrupted his military reserve service to protest against the plan to radically overhaul the judicial system that was put forward by the government last year.
The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court said the suspects were reservist Rear Admiral Ofer Doron – who was suspended from the IDF in August 2023 following his decision to cease voluntary reserve service – as well as longtime anti-government protesters Amir Sadeh and Itai Yafeh.
The wife of one of the suspects told news channel N12 that her husband was arrested by masked police officers who showed up at their marital home late in the night.
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“It was terrifying,” she said. “Masked men arrested my husband and two other people. All three are high-ranking reserve officers. They are people who respect the law, who give body and soul to their country. We are simply in shock that people like us can be arrested in this way, like security criminals.”
The three suspects will remain in custody until at least Thursday over the incident – which has drawn condemnations from across the political spectrum.
According to the channel, the three suspects told police that they had not intended to fire in the direction of Netanyahu’s home, and that they had even carried out a test shot to ensure that the projectile was not heading in that direction, but that the wind had caused it to deviate from its trajectory and that it had fallen back into the courtyard.
The incident caused no injuries, no damage and the Netanyahu couple were not at home at the time.
Almost weekly protests have taken place outside the prime minister’s home in Caesarea since the government launched its controversial plan to radically overhaul Israel’s justice system early last year. With the start of the war in Gaza – a conflict sparked by the pogrom carried out by Hamas gunmen on October 7, 2023 – activists held rallies in the coastal city to demand early elections and to call for government to conclude an agreement opening the door to the release of hostages still held within the enclave. The protesters are also demanding the restoration of security for residents of the south and north of the country, who have been displaced for more than a year.
Sources close to the suspects, whose comments were quoted by N12, said the three men had intended to organize a “closing ceremony” for this series of protests on Saturday, noting that the Netanyahu couple did not had not spent time at his residence in Caesarea for several months.
“They wanted to put an end to these protest movements with a symbolic event, nothing more,” according to these sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Protesters outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea hold Israeli flags and signs with the names of communities on the northern border with Lebanon affected by fires from Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks, June 20 2024. (Credit: Amos Gil/Pro-Democracy Movement)
The Netanyahu family’s private residence in Caesarea was lightly damaged by a Hezbollah drone attack last month. Following this attack, the government reportedly demanded increased security around the property to the tune of two million shekels.
Netanyahu has since been working in a shielded room in the basement of the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, abandoning his usual office on an upper floor as instructed by security officials, according to media reports. Israelis.
Sam Sokol contributed to this article.
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