Man indicted for vandalizing Haaretz offices, threatening journalist
Suspect, said to be suffering from serious mental illness, held on suspicion of sabotaging circuit breaker panel at newspaper’s Tel Aviv office, shouting at reporter
A man was indicted on Tuesday for vandalizing the offices of the left-wing daily Haaretz last week and threatening a journalist.
The man, named by Haaretz as Eyal Levy, was charged with making threats, trespassing and willful destruction of property.
According to the newspaper, Levy was remanded until the end of proceedings against him due to his serious mental illness. He reportedly had an involuntary hospitalization order at the time of the incident after his family demanded he receive medical care.
It was unclear why he was not receiving care, or whether he would be held in a regular prison facility.
Levy, aged 41 and a resident of Ramat Gan, was suspected of sabotaging the circuit breaker panel of the offices of the newspaper and threatening a journalist last week.
The suspect entered the main office building of Haaretz in Tel Aviv, opened the circuit breaker panel and vandalized some of the systems.
Haaretz said that caused water leaks that resulted in disruptions in the newspaper’s website for more than three hours.
The man then waited until he saw reporter Gidi Weitz and, using a nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, shouted at him, “What do you want from Bibi? Where is your car? Do you have a car here?”
He then fled but was later arrested.
