Man sabotages Haaretz offices, threatens journalist

A man on Wednesday sabotaged the circuit breaker panel of the offices of the left-wing daily Haaretz and threatened one of its journalists, police said.

The man 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?”

Police were alerted to the scene but by the time the officers arrived the man had fled.

Police said they were investigating the incident. Later, a suspect was arrested and taken for questioning.

Haaretz said it would file a police complaint later in the day.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid condemned the incident and appeared to link it to Netanyahu, calling it an “attempt to silence the free press by the instigated supporters of a leader who sees democracy and free speech as a threat to the state.”