Three arrested after flares fired at PM’s Caesarea home: A ‘dangerous escalation’
Opposition leaders denounce incident; Justice Minister Levin says it is part of a ‘violent coup’ attempt and calls for judicial overhaul to be revived
Three people were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after a pair of flares were fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea and landed in the yard, the Israel Police said.
No damage was reported in the incident and a joint statement from the security bodies noted that Netanyahu and his family were not home at the time.
The Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit and the Shin Bet are investigating the incident, which they said “marks a dangerous escalation.”
The incident drew condemnation from across the political spectrum.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and National Unity chairman Benny Gantz both issued statements condemning the incident and calling on law enforcement to “bring the guilty to justice.”
Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman said it “signifies an escalation in the attempt to harm the democratic institutions of the State of Israel.”
תיעוד: פצצות התאורה בחצר בית רה"מ בקיסריה | צפו
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“Full backing must be given to the Shin Bet and the Israel Police in the investigation, and those involved must be brought to justice,” Liberman added.
President Isaac Herzog also issued a strong condemnation, saying that he had spoken with Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and emphasized “the urgent need to investigate and deal with those responsible for the incident as soon as possible.”
According to Herzog, Bar informed him that the incident was seen as a “dangerous escalation” and was being treated with the utmost seriousness.
“The flames must not be allowed to escalate. I am again warning against an increase in violence in the public sphere,” Herzog wrote.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, meanwhile, denounced the incident as the latest “link in a chain of violent and anarchic actions, the purpose of which is to bring about the assassination of the prime minister and the overthrow of the elected government by means of a violent coup.”
Levin, the main proponent of the government’s now-shelved judicial overhaul plan, blamed “law enforcement authorities’ selective enforcement.” The justice minister said that he has been leading the charge to “fundamentally change things,” including the composition of the High Court of Justice.
“The time has come for all the members of the coalition, all the factions and all the members of the Knesset, to announce, as one man, their unequivocal support for the moves that I led and which were stopped, and for any other move necessary to change the situation,” Levin added. “The time has come for full support to be given to restore the justice system and law enforcement systems, and to put an end to anarchy, rampages, refusal, and attempts to harm the prime minister.”
Gantz slammed Levin’s call to resume the contentious judicial overhaul program, warning that the last time the process was attempted it “brought disaster to the State of Israel.”
“The coup d’état led by Yariv Levin brought disaster to the State of Israel, tore us apart from the inside and was a large part of how we reached October 7,” Gantz wrote on X.
“The fact that he brings up the idea of returning to it while the entirety of Israeli society is mobilized amid a difficult war proves that not only has he not learned his lesson — he is also an irresponsible person,” he added.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, meanwhile, declared that “the incitement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has crossed all boundaries” and that the incident “crosses another red line.”
“Today it’s a flare and tomorrow it’s live fire,” he said, calling for a halt to “the incitement against Netanyahu and his family.”
Echoing Ben Gvir, Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf stated that the affair “is a direct result of the wild incitement against the Israeli government and its leader, which has been sweeping the country in recent months.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich insisted that “violence is eroding the foundation of Israeli democracy,” adding that “the law enforcement authorities and the security establishment must come to their senses and act before it is too late.”
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana blamed incitement in the national discourse for fueling the attack on Netanyahu’s home: “The writing was on the walls, on the roads, in inflammatory posts and in demonstrations.
“The shooting at the prime minister’s house tonight is a direct result of a policy that for the past few years has ignored the escalation in words and deeds,” Ohana declared — accusing the attorney general and the justice system of having “accustomed us to the fact that there are those for whom things are permitted and those for whom they are prohibited.”
At a cabinet meeting in September, government ministers railed against the attorney general’s office for ostensibly not doing enough to crack down on incitement against the prime minister, pointing to a prominent government critic comparing Netanyahu to Hitler as well as protesters deriding Netanyahu as a “traitor,” “Satan” and an “enemy of the people.”
The Netanyahus’ private home in Caesarea was lightly damaged in a Hezbollah drone attack last month. Following that attack, the government reportedly demanded an NIS 2 million security update at the estate.
