Sara Netanyahu issues call for ‘broad agreement among people of Israel’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara issues a rare public statement in which she calls for all parties to “calm the waters and work together for a broad agreement among the people of Israel.”

Her statement recounts what she calls “the violent siege at the Tel Aviv hair salon” when she was trapped for several hours at the beginning of the month after hundreds of protesters against the government gathered outside. Police were called to the scene to keep demonstrators away.

Netanyahu claims that since then there has been mounting violence and incitement against government figures.

“I call on the leaders of the opposition, most of whom refrained from condemning the serious incident in Tel Aviv against me, to denounce the violence against me and public figures before it is too late,” she says.

She also calls on law enforcement to act with “all means” against those who break the law, although she notes that “a small element of violent anarchists” does not represent all the anti-government protesters.

She says most Israelis, including herself, want “dialogue, unity, and compromise.”

Sara Netanyahu is widely seen as wielding influence over her husband, who is set to give a statement to the nation at 8 p.m.