Israeli PM Netanyahu’s wife Sara is rescued by police after being trapped in a hair salon for hours when protesters critical of her husband’s policies spotted her there and surrounded it
- Israel has seen intermittent protests for months but Wednesday’s turned violent
- Thousands vehemently protested Netanyahu’s plans to weaken Supreme Court
- The PM’s wife was in a hair salon in the capital when she was spotted by rioters
Israeli police on Wednesday staged a dramatic rescue of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara from a tense standoff in a hair salon besieged by anti-government protestors.
Thousands across the country staged a ‘national disruption day,’ the latest in a string of mass protests against Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul Israel’s judiciary and weaken the country’s Supreme Court – and the first to turn violent.
Netanyahu’s plan has drawn heavy criticism from wide swaths of Israeli society and pleas from international allies for Netanyahu to slow down.
Swarms of demonstrators clashed with police who fired stun grenades and water cannons at a group of rioters blocking a Tel Aviv motorway, making dozens of arrests.
But Sara had nevertheless decided to get her haircut in a salon in the Israeli capital – something she quickly learned was a mistake as a crowd of protestors noticed her and surrounded the building, chanting: ‘The country is burning and Sara is getting a haircut!’
Videos on social media showed hundreds of people outside the building, screaming and blowing horns. In one video, dozens of members from the paramilitary border police rushed through the streets of Tel Aviv toward the salon, and the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called on the forces to ‘protect her life.’
A horde of heavily armed officers whisked Netanyahu’s wife out of the salon, between parked cars and into a waiting black vehicle before speeding off
Benjamin Netanyahu hugs his wife Sara Netanyahu. Sara was extracted from a tense standoff in a hair salon in Tel Aviv surrounded by protestors on Wednesday
Israeli protesters clash with police officers during a demonstration against the Israeli government’s judicial reform plan on March 1, 2023 in Tel Aviv
People holding Israeli flags gather outside Knesset to protest against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu
Mounted police are deployed as Israelis block a main road to protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system
Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Police announced several hours later that they had successfully ‘rescued’ Mrs. Netanyahu, rushing the breathless woman to a waiting vehicle under heavy armed guard.
Amateur videos showed her being whisked into the vehicle which quickly screeched away from the scene as the crowd chanted ‘shame.’
Netanyahu later tweeted a photo of him embracing his wife, saying she had returned home safely.
‘The anarchy has to stop,’ he said. ‘This can lead to the loss of life.’
Netanyahu and his coalition partners, a collection of ultra-Orthodox and hard-line nationalist parties, say his plan is needed to rein in the powers of unelected judges.
Critics say Netanyahu, a defendant standing trial for corruption charges, holds a personal grudge against the justice system and is pushing the country toward autocracy.
The Netanyahus have been criticised for being out of touch with regular Israelis and living a lavish lifestyle at taxpayer expense. Last week, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved new funding for Netanyahu and his family.
A wave of unusually intense Israeli-Palestinian violence in the occupied West Bank has helped fuel tensions, with radical West Bank settlers rampaging through the Palestinian town of Huwara earlier this week.
Israeli security forces use stun grenades to disperse protesters during a demonstration
Protesters break police barricades during a demonstration against the Israeli government’s controversial justice reform bill
Israeli police clash with demonstrators gathered outside Knesset
In a late-night address, Netanyahu criticised the anti-government protesters and attempted to compare them to the violent mob of settlers that tore through Huwara, torching dozens of homes, businesses and cars and killing one Palestinian. The rampage followed the killing of two Israeli brothers as they drove through the town.
‘The freedom to demonstrate is not a licence to drag the country into anarchy,’ Netanyahu said.
‘We will not accept breaking the rules and violence, not in Huwara, not in Tel Aviv and not anywhere.’
Netanyahu made no mention of a call Wednesday by his Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a firebrand West Bank settler leader, for Huwara to be ‘erased’ by the Israeli state.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price called on Netanyahu to ‘publicly and clearly reject’ Smotrich’s comments, describing them as ‘repugnant,’ ‘disgusting’ and ‘irresponsible.’
Smotrich later tried to walk back his comments, saying he didn’t mean to ‘wipe out’ the entire town, but only to take tough action against militants and their supporters.
Protests continued into the night. Near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem home, demonstrators briefly broke down a barricade and scuffled with security forces.
Since they started two months ago, the protests have been large, colourful, rowdy – and violence-free. But that changed Wednesday, after Ben-Gvir, leader of a far-right party, ordered police to take tougher action against ‘anarchists’ who blocked roads.
In the first scenes of unrest, police arrived on horseback in the centre of the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv, hurled stun grenades and used a water cannon against thousands who chanted ‘democracy’ and ‘police state.’
A video posted on social media showed a police officer pressing his knee into a protester’s neck and another showed a man who reportedly had his ear ripped off by a stun grenade. Police said protesters threw rocks and water bottles at the officers.
An Israeli protestor is locked in an intense face-off with a police officer
Israeli protesters clash with police officers
Police scuffle with Israelis as they push past a security barricade at a protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system
Police detain a woman during a protest against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Police handcuff an Israeli woman detained at a protest near the President’s residence against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government to overhaul the judicial system, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, March 1, 2023
In Tel Aviv and later in Jerusalem, the protesters shouted ‘Where were you in Huwara?’ at policemen, referring to Sunday’s settler rampage. The military has said it was not prepared for the mob in Huwara, and that it took hours to bring the situation under control.
Police said they arrested dozens of protesters nationwide for disturbing the peace Wednesday while 11 people were hospitalised with various injuries, according to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.
Earlier in the day, protesters blocked Tel Aviv’s main freeway and the highway connecting the city to Jerusalem, halting rush hour traffic for about an hour. At busy train stations in Tel Aviv, protesters prevented trains from departing by blocking their doors.
Thousands turned out across the country waving Israeli flags. Parents marched with their children, tech workers walked out of work to demonstrate, and doctors in scrubs rallied outside hospitals.
‘Every person here is trying to keep Israel a democracy and if the current government will get its way, then we are afraid we will no longer be a democracy or a free country,’ said Arianna Shapira, a protester in Tel Aviv.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called on police to show restraint and said Netanyahu’s government had lost control something Netanyahu said was inciting disorder.
‘The protesters are patriots,’ Lapid tweeted.
‘They are fighting for the values of freedom, justice and democracy. The role of the police is to allow them to express their opinions and fight for the country they love.’
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