Three suspects have been arrested in connection with firing two flares at the Caesarea home of Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night, the Israel Police and Shin Bet announced Sunday morning. The three suspects were transferred to a joint investigation by the Shin Bet and Lahav Unit 433 of the Israel Police, which said in a statement that "more details will be provided later, depending on the progress of the investigation."
The three are known activists in the protest against the prime minister, including a lieutenant colonel in the reserves who is considered one of the leaders of the protest in Caesarea. A gag order was placed on the identities of the suspects. An attorney working with the protest movement claims that the suspects have been denied a meeting with a lawyer.
On Saturday night, police officers carried out searches in Caesarea , after the flares were fired around 7:30 p.m., allegedly from the direction of the sea. The prime minister and his family members were not home at the time of the incident.
Footage of flares fired at prime minister's home, which sparked a fire
The flares that were fired are used as a distress signal when sailing at sea, and were apparently fired at Netanyahu's house in Caesarea from the dunes near the beach in the city. In the footage from a security camera from the scene, one of the flares appears to hit the area of a security post in the courtyard of the prime minister's house.
Saturday night's incident is not the first in which flares have been fired at demonstrations. A week ago, the Jerusalem Police arrested a suspect for involvement in launching flares at the Prime Minister's residence on Gaza Street during a protest in the area.
"It was just like on a soccer field, orange smoke that landed in the yard of the Netanyahu family. The family members were not here, but it was definitely something we did not expect to see, certainly not after the drone shot from Lebanon that hit the front of the house. It's stressful," a neighbor said.
Another nearby Netanyahu neighbor said that "the prime minister and his family members were not at home at the time of the incident. "Long before the drone struck the house, they stopped coming here, but this is still a worrying escalation. It's scary, and I hope they capture the culprits who fired the flares."
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A flare landed inside the property of the prime minister's home in Caesarea, sparking a fire
The incident took place precisely after this week the group Moked Caesarea, which led the demonstrations in front of the Prime Minister's private home for five years, announced the end of the demonstrations there and the transfer of the protest to Jerusalem. The decision was made, according to the group, because "the time has come to step up," after they demonstrated in front of the house in Caesarea three times a week - protests that were often accompanied by arguments and even confrontations with the police, which led to arrests and severe violence.
The incident was condemned from all sides in the political system, and President Isaac Herzog said afterwards that he had spoken with the head of the Shin Bet. He called the incident "a highly dangerous event, which I strongly condemn. I have just spoken with the Shin Bet chief and emphasized the urgent need to investigate and address those responsible as quickly as possible."
Herzog stressed that this represents "a dangerous escalation and noted that the investigation is being carried out with the utmost seriousness. We must not let these flames escalate. I continue to warn against the rise of violence among the public — this is a matter of our very survival."
In a post on X, Israel’s new Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the incident has crossed all the “red lines.”
“It is not possible for the Prime Minister of Israel, who is threatened by Iran and its proxies who are trying to assassinate him, to be subject to the same threats from home,” Katz said in the X post.
The chairman of the national unity party, Benny Gantz, who first condemned the firing of the flares on Saturday night, commented on Sunday morning that the three arrested are anti-government protest activists and posted on the X platform: "If indeed the suspicions are true and the protest activists are behind the firing of the flares at the Prime Minister's house, we should say unequivocally: this is not a protest - this is terrorism."
According to Gantz, "Although I deeply disagree with Netanyahu and often criticize him, and although I have no doubt that the people need to re-elect their leaders, in recent months I repeated and said even when there were those who attacked me for it - Netanyahu is not a murderer and is not an enemy, one should demonstrate against him and the government only according to the law. This is the position of the absolute majority of those who oppose this government. In view of the recent events, every public leader, including the leaders of the protests, should say it outright."
In his response to the case, Justice Minister Yariv Levin called for renewed promotion of the judicial overhaul. "The time has come for full backing to be given to the restoration of the justice system and the law enforcement systems," said Levin, who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister. "There was no need for flares to be fired at the Prime Minister's house, to understand the seriousness of the rampant violence and the refusal on the part of those who are trying to dismantle the country from within."
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