Man Arrested in Caesarea Sought to Harm Netanyahu

An individual whom police believe was planning to harm Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was arrested over the weekend. The suspect was detained after concerned residents in Caesarea called and reported suspicious activity he was engaged in.

Several callers told police that the man was roaming the streets of Caesarea, asking people for the address of the Netanyahus, who own a house there. He arrived at the gate and told a security guard that he had “explosive devices” with him, and that he intended to use them to harm Netanyahu.

One of the security guards detained the individual, and police, alerted by residents, arrived soon afterwards and arrested him. A bomb squad expert was brought to the scene to examine the packages the suspect was carrying, but they turned out not to be dangerous.

Netanyahu is currently in Brazil, so there was no immediate danger to him, and he is usually at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Yerushalayim. Officials suspect that the individual may have been testing security procedures on the possibility that he or others might try to harm Netanyahu in the future.