Israel: two flares fired near Netanyahu’s home, three suspects arrested

Two flares landed in front of the private residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was not on the scene, in Caesarea in the center of the country, the Israeli security services announced on Saturday, which referred to a “serious incident” .

“Around 7:30 p.m. (local time), two flares landed in the courtyard in front of the Prime Minister’s residence,” the police and the Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence service, said in a joint statement.

“The Prime Minister and his family were not in the house,” they added, referring to “a serious incident” and “a dangerous escalation”. The origin of the shots was not specified.

Furthermore, the courts ordered a ban on the publication of information on the investigation or the identity of the suspects for a period of 30 days, the press release specifies.

The protest movement blamed

The incident triggered a wave of reactions in the Israeli political class. The Speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, a member of the Likud (right) led by Benjamin Netanyahu, accused on SO. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, for his part, warned of “an escalation of violence in the public sphere” on X.

In opposition, Benny Gantz, former member of the Israeli war cabinet and leader of the National Union party (center), also pointed to a drift in the protest movement. “If the suspicions are well-founded and if protest activists are behind the firing of flares at the Prime Minister’s house, it must be said clearly and unambiguously: this is not a protest, it is terrorism,” he wrote on X.

“While I deeply disagree with Netanyahu and often criticize him, and while I have no doubt that the people should re-elect their leaders (…) Netanyahu is not a murderer and is not not an enemy, we must only demonstrate against him and against the government in accordance with the law,” he added.

The judicial reform promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies deeply fractured the country in 2023, giving rise to one of the most important protest movements in Israeli history. In addition to abandoning the reform, he is calling more broadly for the departure of the Prime Minister, indicted in corruption cases. The reform was suspended with the start of the war with Palestinian Hamas on October 7, 2023, but the “anti-Bibi” movement, the nickname of the head of government, continues to mobilize, even if the demonstrations are of lesser importance.

Already an attack targeting Netanyahu in October

On October 22, a drone was fired in the direction of this same residence and hit a “structure” in Caesarea, the Prime Minister’s office indicated.

Also absent at that time, Benjamin Netanyahu then accused “Hezbollah, an ally of Iran”, of having “tried” to assassinate him and his wife, assuring that they “pay (ow) a price pupil “. Three days later, the Lebanese Islamist movement, supported by Tehran, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We announce our full and sole responsibility for the Caesarea operation (…) which targeted the war criminal Netanyahu,” declared Mohammad Afif, head of media relations for the movement.

Two injured in Haifa after rocket fire

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army announced on Saturday that a synagogue had been hit in a “major” salvo of rockets fired by the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah on the city of Haifa, wounding two people.

Israel launched a military offensive in Lebanon in September in order to neutralize Hezbollah in the border regions of the south of the country and thus allow the return, to the north of its own territory, of inhabitants displaced by more than a year of fire. rockets.

The Lebanese movement launched a “support front” for Hamas on October 8, 2023, the day after the unprecedented attack on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil, which triggered the war in Gaza.