Police recommend recognizing Sara Netanyahu as ‘crime victim’ after flares fired at home
Recognition could enable PM’s wife to influence any plea deal with 4 suspects charged with terror for shooting flares at PM’s private residence; Netanyahus weren’t home
The Israel Police on Friday recommended recognizing Sara Netanyahu as a victim of a crime three weeks after three flares were fired at the Netanyahus’ private residence in Caesarea.
Nobody was harmed in the incident, no damage was caused to the house and neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his wife were home at the time.
Victims of a crime are by law entitled to be asked by prosecutors for their position regarding any plea bargain that might be proposed to those indicted over the incident, and the punishment that they might be given by the court. Crime victims are also entitled to financial benefits from the state.
“The law on the rights of crime victims defines a victim as one who was directly harmed by the crime,” police wrote in an opinion to the court. “In accordance with the definition in the law, and in accordance with the charges filed, and given that the personal home of the Netanyahus was harmed as a result of the crime, they are entitled to be recognized as crime victims and to fulfill their rights.”
Defense attorneys for the four suspects charged for involvement in the launching of the flares on November 16 slammed the police opinion.
“The Israel Police’s decision to consider Mrs. Sara Netanyahu a ‘victim of a crime’ in an event in which her house was not damaged at all and she was not at home at the time of the incident indicates poor and puzzling judgment,” they said in a statement.
“It seems that instead of acting to promote the public interest, the police were motivated by a desire for personal advancement,” the lawyers said in an apparent reference to recent cases where high-profile police officers were accused of illegally shifting police policy in a bid to curry favor with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and win promotions.
Sara Netanyahu submitted the request to Israeli authorities to be recognized as the victim of a crime, specifically an attempted terror attack after three flares were fired at the Netanyahus’ private residence.
Even though no one was hurt, Uriel Nizri, a family lawyer for the Netanyahus, sent a letter to the police and the Shin Bet security service saying that the premier’s wife had been the target of “a severe terror event in which military explosives were fired at her house, causing damage and a fire to be ignited at the scene.”
In his letter on Sara Netanyahu’s behalf, Nizri wrote that the premier’s wife was shocked to see media outlets downplaying the seriousness of the incident.
“This was an extremely serious event, which aided the enemy in a time of war and harmed the security of the country… in the most serious of ways,” Nizri wrote.
He also noted that the incident took place close to the anniversary of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, claiming that it demonstrated the suspects’ intention to physically harm Netanyahu.
Sara Netanyahu also filed a separate request to police for an attempted murder investigation to be opened against the suspects.
Four suspects were charged this week with terror offenses
Rear Adm. (res.) Ofer Doron, 63, his son Gal Doron, 27, and two other longtime anti-government activists, Itay Yaffe, 62, and Amir Sadeh, 62, were indicted in Haifa District Court on charges of carrying out an act of terror through the reckless and negligent use of fire, and attempted arson.
The two Dorons were also charged with obstruction of justice for initially lying to investigators about who fired one of the flares.
According to prosecutors, the four were involved in firing two flares at the Netanyahus’ house on the night of November 16 during weekly protest activities against Netanyahu and the government.
Protesters have held near-weekly demonstrations outside the prime minister’s Caesarea home since the government launched its controversial judicial overhaul plan early last year. Since the war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, activists have held demonstrations in the coastal city demanding early elections, and calling on the government to strike a deal to free the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and restore security to southern and northern residents displaced by the war.
