Netanyahu, wife denounce protesters after salon siege
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies Thursday denounced protesters as “anarchists” after they massed outside a Tel Aviv salon where his wife was getting her hair done — a chaotic end to a day of demonstrations against the government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary.
Sara Netanyahu has long been a polarizing figure in Israel, and the incident late Wednesday in a posh neighborhood in Tel Aviv reflected Israel’s emotionally charged divide over the overhaul, seen by opponents as an existential threat to the country. Demonstrators outside the salon chanted, “shame, shame” — but did not try to force their way inside. Hundreds of police were sent to the scene and eventually escorted her into a limousine.
In a post on Instagram, Sara Netanyahu thanked the police for helping her and thanked the public for what she said was an outpouring of support.
“Yesterday’s incident could have ended with murder,” she said. She called on opposition leaders to condemn “the violence, anarchy and incitement.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his political partners showed no signs of easing up on a push to pass a series of bills to overhaul Israel’s judiciary. These moves have further inflamed an already deeply riven country and drawn the largest protests in over a decade.
The proposed bills would give politicians and parliament control over judicial appointments, the power to overrule the Supreme Court and the ability to pass laws impervious to judicial review.
Critics of the plan include a growing number of former military brass, academics, economists and business leaders. They say the changes will erode the country’s delicate system of checks and balances and its democratic institutions. Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies say the changes are necessary to rein in the power of unelected judges.
The battle over the judiciary overhaul comes as Netanyahu’s trial for charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust drags on. The longtime leader has dismissed the charges against him as part of a “witch hunt” by biased law enforcement, judiciary and media.
Netanyahu’s allies came to Sara Netanyahu’s defense Thursday.
Galit Distel Atbaryan, Israel’s public diplomacy minister, called the incident “three hours of terror in which one woman was besieged by an incited mob.” Another Likud lawmaker wrote on Twitter that the prime minister’s wife “was rescued from a lynch.”
Yair Golan, a former general and onetime Meretz party lawmaker, told Kan radio that “with all due respect, Sara Netanyahu is a political figure.”
Referring to what critics consider her outsized political influence in the prime minister’s office, Golan alleged
that “she is involved in decision making on a national level and approves senior appointments left and right.”
The Netanyahus have been criticized for being out of touch with regular Israelis and living a lavish lifestyle at taxpayer expense.