Woman accused of throwing sand at Ben Gvir sent to house arrest after night in jail
Noa Goldenberg denies allegations as Tel Aviv judge says he’s not convinced there were grounds to arrest her or keep her in custody
A Tel Aviv woman arrested Friday for allegedly assaulting National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir with wet sand was released to house arrest on Saturday night after being held in jail the night before.
At a remand hearing at Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court following a night spent night at Neve Tirtza Women’s Prison in Ramle, Noa Goldenberg, 27, acknowledged being at the beach, but denied the allegations against her.
After watching video from the scene, Judge Menachem Klein ordered that Goldenberg be released but remain under house arrest for at least 48 hours, and that she stay away from the minister for 30 days.
“There’s nothing here, there’s really nothing here… I’m not convinced that there is a reason for the arrest,” Klein said. “We can settle for an alternative of 48 hours of supervised house arrest.”
Police had asked for Goldenberg to be held in custody for another day, Army Radio reported, on allegations including assaulting a public servant and preventing the police from carrying out its duties.
During the hearing, some 300 activists protested outside the court against Goldenberg’s arrest, Haaretz reported. The arrest and subsequent decision to hold her in custody while leaving her family in the dark had sparked accusations of police overreach and abuse of power by Ben Gvir, who oversees the force.
Goldenberg’s mother Sharon, who had publicized her daughter’s arrest on Friday evening, said the judge’s decision had “brought some of the color back” to her daughter’s cheeks.
Goldenberg’s lawyer had petitioned on Friday for her release, citing medical grounds and the lack of justifiable cause for her arrest, but a Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court rejected the request, after police cited “fear of tampering” with the investigation.
Activists were enraged by the police’s hours-long failure to disclose Goldenberg’s location while she was being processed at Neve Tirtza over the course of Friday evening.
According to Ynet, Goldenberg was taken to Neve Tirtza, returned to the police station due to “faulty paperwork,” and then sent back to the prison.
Sharon Goldenberg posted a picture on social media showing her daughter in a cell at the Lev Tel Aviv police station with her hands and feet bound.
זו הבת שלי שנעצרה בחוף הים בטענה שזרקה חול על בן גביר.
משטרת הדיקטטורה החליטה, ללא הצדקה לסכן את חיי הבת שלי, שחולה במחלה כרונית – ומשאירה אותה במעצר מסכן חיים מבחינתה.
אין לה שום עבר פלילי, אפס מסוכנות.
אבל זאת ההנחייה מלמעלה.
אם למישהו שם בכל זאת יש לב ושכל, בבקשה… pic.twitter.com/tNBH8NFRBH
— Sharon Goldenberg ????️ (@goldens32) September 6, 2024
“The dictatorship police has decided, without justification, to risk the life of my daughter who suffers from a chronic illness, and is leaving her in detention, which is life-threatening for her,” she wrote, adding that her daughter has no prior offenses.
Police said it “takes the offense of assaulting a public servant extremely seriously.”
Goldenberg was apprehended at roughly 2:30 p.m. on Friday. She was at Tel Aviv’s Geula beach with friends when Ben Gvir, who is in charge of the police, passed through.
The minister’s appearance sparked an angry reaction from some of the beachgoers, who could be heard yelling “murderer” at him in footage posted to social media.
Critics accuse Ben Gvir of thwarting a ceasefire deal to secure the release from Gaza of the remaining 101 hostages, including 97 abducted on October 7.
תיעוד של בן גביר והחול בחוף בת"א:
בן גביר מוקף באבטחה משוחח וחלקי חול רטוב עפים לעברו.
בן גביר לא מהסס ונכנס *לתוך הים* עם הנעליים כשהאבטחים מונעים ממנו ומצביעים על בחורה בבגד ים במים.
ברקע קריאות "לך הביתה יא רוצח".
הצעירה בחקירה כאילן מדובר במחבלת, ייתכן ותיעצר למשך הלילה. https://t.co/UK4q2oq3NN pic.twitter.com/7PSLuh3wkd— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) September 6, 2024
Footage on social media showed officers walking toward the sea to make the arrest after some wet sand was apparently flung in the minister’s direction.
With police failing to disclose her location for several hours after the arrest, Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari stepped in to help locate her for her family and bring her medication, party chief and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said on X on Saturday morning.
Anti-government activists, together with Labor MK Naama Lazimi and Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak, gathered outside Neve Tirza late Friday to demand Goldenberg’s release.
Beliak said on social media Saturday morning that “large swaths of the police have fallen into the hands of the criminal” Ben Gvir.
“No I don’t think it’s okay to throw sand, or anything else, at elected officials,” said Beliak. “Not even at unlawful, criminal, lying, clownish ministers.”
“Ben Gvir did this to Noa because he wants you to be afraid. Don’t be afraid,” he wrote.
“Together we have power. We have hostages to bring back. We have a country to save,” added Beliak, urging the public to attend the anti-government, pro-hostage deal demonstration on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street on Saturday night.
Ben Gvir, who assumed his position in late 2022, has been accused of politicizing the police. He has reportedly ordered the police to refrain from arresting rightwing extremists who attacked trucks bringing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Police have also largely failed to make arrests over recent instances of settler violence in the West Bank, and in the case of right-wing mobs that stormed two army bases on July 29 after 10 reservists were detained on suspicion of having sodomized a Palestinian prisoner.
