Netanyahu taken to safe room during protests prior to Capitol riots
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was allegedly evacuated to a safe room along with his family because of protesters outside of his official residence.
By HAGAY HACOHENProtester holds a sign that says "crime minister" outside of the Prime Minister's Residence during a demonstration on July 25, 2020(photo credit: TAMAR BEERI)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family were taken to a safe room last Saturday after protesters allegedly broke through one of the barriers placed to defend the Prime Minister’s Residence, Israeli media reported on Friday.The report, which was slammed as being false by the protesting organizations which occupy the weekly anti-Netanyahu protests in front of the Prime Minister’s Residence, was released shortly after the events in Washington during which protesters stormed the Capitol and were able to break into the US Senate.The initial report was presented by N12 political analyst Amit Segal, who has been openly supportive of Netanyahu and has consistently criticized the anti-Netanyahu protests.However, on Saturday evening, the station reported that a senior police official said the police were caught off guard by the decision to move Netanyahu and his family to a safe room, noting that there was no reason to do so. "We were surprised by the decision to move the prime minister to a secure location," the police official told N12. "There was no apparent justification to do so, as the Prime Minister's Officials Residence did not face risk of being breached at any point. The protesters didn't break through any barrier. They simply didn't listen to the instructions of police officers to leave the area."A video of protesters that weekend chanting “we have taken power, remove the curtain” was posted by N12 as part of the reason for the security detail's decision to move Netanyahu and his family to a safe location within the building. The curtain in reference is a screen that blocks the residency from view of the protesters.The anti-Netanyahu Black Flags Movement said the protests have always been nonviolent, and will remain so, “despite evidence of more than 400 cases of activists being assaulted.”Crime Minister, another protesting organization, expressed its dismay at the media “not checking the facts” before reporting on the incident, arguing that no barrier was ever crossed and that, had Netanyahu really been placed in the safe room, it is due to “a madness that has taken hold of the Netanyahu family.”Crime Minister stated that “Netanyahu, we will come to you every week – close on you from all directions – until you leave office.”Netanyahu was reportedly kept in the safe location for 40 minutes, during which more police forces arrived on the scene and the security detail ruled it was safe for him to exit. The detail was following established procedures, despite the prime minister never being in any real danger and the protesters having no chance to storm the residence, according to Channel 13.
The practice of ensuring the availability of a safe room that is harder to access and easier to defend is common to such buildings. Israeli embassies around the world employ a similar tactic should they come under attack.Tobias Siegal contributed to this report.
