After complaints from local residents, police limit protests at Bennett’s home
Police on Sunday issued new orders regarding protests outside the Ra’anana home of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, after local residents complained that the frequent demonstrations were disturbing them.
Right-wing protesters have been holding regular demonstrations outside Bennett’s home, accusing him of misleading voters by forming a unity coalition with right-wing, centrist, left-wing, and Arab parties to oust Benjamin Netanyahu as premier.
In the future, demonstrations near the prime minister’s home will only be permitted twice a week, unless coordinated in advance with police, according to Hebrew media reports.
If more than 200 people attend a demonstration it will be moved to a different location in the city.
In addition, weekend protests will need to first get police approval and will not be permitted during the Sabbath.
Further restrictions were placed on the volume of noise protesters can make. Drums, percussion instruments, sirens, air horns, and similar noise-making instruments will only be permitted for a total of two hours and not after 9:30 p.m.
“Loud and unreasonable noise” will not be permitted at any time, the reports said.
Police have in the past introduced similar restrictions on other demonstrations, such as protests against Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who put Netanyahu on trial for corruption, and Liat Ben Ari, the chief prosecutor in the trial.
Ra’anana Mayor Chaim Broyde told the Central District police commander last week that the protests are “getting out of control and may end in disaster,” saying he was even accosted by demonstrators while sitting at a café in the upscale central city.
“Innocent residents of Ra’anana, among them little children who have nothing to do with the elections, have turned into victims and hostages of a group of which few — if any at all — are residents of Ra’anana,” Broyde wrote on Facebook at the time.
He added: “Families are scared and have been living for over two weeks now with the with the deafening noise of powerful microphones, sounds similar to alarms, screaming, sirens, drums, curses, and no one is bothering to protect a community… whose only crime is being near the private home of the prime minister.”
Last week two people were lightly injured when bleach was apparently thrown at a group of protesters demonstrating outside Bennett’s home. It was not immediately clear who threw the liquid at the demonstrators, but witnesses said it appeared to come from one of the apartments near Bennett’s home.
Besides the noise from the protests, Bennett’s neighbors have also complained about the increased security measures in the neighborhood, and held a public meeting on the matter last week. The new measures have included closing off the block that Bennett’s home is on and blocking off nearby parking spaces.
For the time being, Bennett has said that due to his children’s schooling, he does not plan to fully move to the official Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, which has, in any case, yet to be vacated by Netanyahu. The two agreed last week that Netanyahu would leave the residence on the capital’s Balfour Street by July 10.
Earlier Sunday, coalition whip Idit Silman said Sunday that she has received phone calls and text messages with explicit threats to the lives of her and her family earlier in the day. Silman, a member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party, said she reached out to the Knesset Guard and police.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called on the opposition, now led by Netanyahu, to condemn the threats, saying they crossed a red line.
“The threats against the lives of Idit Silman and her children are a red line and I call on all members of the opposition to condemn them,” Lapid tweeted. “Disputes between the opposition and coalition are logical and accepted, but messages to her cellphone are dangerous and a crime.”
Earlier in the month Silman faced a wave of protests outside her home and repeated threats as Yamina decided to join a coalition with seven other right-wing, centrist, left-wing and Arab parties. The Knesset Guard upped the security around Silman and other Yamina lawmakers after they were targeted by activists.