A suspicious vehicle parked on one of the streets adjacent to the Prime Minister's office caused several minutes worth of tension Monday afternoon.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and a handful of other ministers were forced to evacuate to another wing of the building.
At the time of the incident, Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home), Environment Protection Minister Amir Peretz (Hatnua) and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver (Yisrael Beiteinu) - the members of the Prime Minister's Housing Cabinet - were in a meeting discussing solutions to the housing shortage.
They were suddenly disrupted, and forced to stop the session when security reports of the suspicious vehicle came in. The ministers were asked to leave the room and were subsequently updated that an unidentified and suspicious vehicle was parked in a nearby parking lot.
Defense officials referred to the incident as a potential car bombing scenario and so followed the strict procedures set forth.
After a short time, the suspicion subsided, and the ministers returned to the meeting as normal.
The Prime Minister's office issued a statement, saying: "Following the discovery of a suspicious car in the area surrounding the Prime Minister's office, everyone in the building - including the Prime Minister, was evacuated to a part of the building far away from the suspicious vehicle."
"Once the fear of attack abated, everything returned to normal."
Although this incident ended quietly, tensions remain high in Jerusalem as the "silent intifada" of stone-throwing and firebombing rages on.
This past week has been particularly strained following the attempted assassination of Temple Mount rights activist, Yehuda Glick, and the subsequent gun battle between police forces and Mu'taz Hijazi, Glick's shooter, in the neighborhood of Abu Tor.
Hijazi was killed in the shootout. Glick is recovering from his critical wounds in Shaare Tzedek Hospital, where he remains on a respirator.