CAIRO: Two flash bombs were fired towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the northern Israeli town of Caesarea on Saturday and fell into the garden, police said.

Neither Netanyahu nor his family were present and there was no damage reported, it added in a statement.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the incident crossed “all red lines” in a post on X early on Sunday. “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.

He also called on security and judicial agencies to take the necessary steps. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog condemned the incident in a post on X and said an investigation was underway.

“The incitement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crosses all boundaries. Throwing a

flash bomb into his house tonight is crossing another red line,” Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also said on X.

In October, a drone was launched towards the premier’s home in Caesarea, without causing any harm. To the north, Israeli forces have been trading fire with Hezbollah since October 2023. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s incident.

Three suspects arrested

Israeli police said on Sunday three suspects were arrested after two flares landed near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in the central town of Caesarea.

“Three suspects were arrested overnight for their involvement in the incident” on Saturday evening, the police said in a statement, adding that the suspects would be interrogated jointly with the Shin Bet internal security agency.

The statement added that a court ordered a gag on publishing any details of the investigation or the suspects’ identities for 30 days. The speaker of parliament, Amir Ohana, accused anti-government protesters of being behind the incident. “The writing was on the walls, on the streets, in incendiary messages and in demonstrations,” he said, referring to regular anti-government protests that erupted in early 2023.

Former war cabinet member and opposition figure Benny Gantz wrote on X: “If the suspicions are true and activists are behind the firing of flares at the premier’s residence, it should be said clearly: this is not protest, this is terrorism.”

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2024