Dozens of Israeli protesters besieged a hair salon in the center of Tel Aviv after they discovered that Sarah Netanyahu, the wife of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was inside it.
The videos circulated on social media platforms show the protesters who surrounded the hair salon chanting, “The country is burning while Sarah is cutting her hair,” and “a shameful thing.”
Others chanted, “May your hair ends burn,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to the far-right refrain to Arabs, “May your village burn down.”
Videos on social media showed hundreds of people outside the building, screaming and blowing horns.
Commenting on the besieging of his wife, Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted, “The anarchist activists led by (opposition leader and former prime minister Yair) Lapid continue to cross the red lines. They are currently harassing and threatening my wife in Tel Aviv.”
He added, “I call on Lapid and the opposition to stop this immediately and condemn this heinous and unprecedented act.”
On the other hand, Yair Lapid tweeted, “Calls on the demonstrators in the State Square to allow Sara Netanyahu to leave her home. Your struggle and ours is against the regime coup and the destruction of democracy.”
The head of the National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, called on the protesters in front of the salon to let Netanyahu go home.
“I call on the protesters in Madinah Square – let the Prime Minister’s wife return to her home and you continue to wave the flags and voice our righteous cry,” he wrote on Twitter. “We will continue to act together, in a variety of legal ways, to stop the coup d’état.”
Hundreds of police officers were called to the scene — including a number on horseback — and escorted Sara Netanyahu after three hours out of the salon and into an SUV.
Later on Thursday, Netanyahu posted a second tweet, attaching a picture of him embracing his wife, and captioned, “My beloved wife Sarah, glad you are back home safely and unharmed.”
“The terrible incident that occurred yesterday could have ended in murder. The time has come to stop the anarchy,” Sara Netanyahu wrote on Instagram, while expressing thanks to her supporters.
“The time has come for opposition leaders to denounce the violence, anarchy and incitement,” she added.
