A 27-year-old woman was arrested on Friday after she attacked National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as he was spending time with his family on the waterfront in the area of the Geula Beach in Tel Aviv.
An initial report of the incident indicates that the suspect, a resident of the city, threw a handful of sand at Ben Gvir and fled into the water until the police located her and arrested her on suspicion of assaulting a public official.
The suspect was taken for questioning at the Tel Aviv Police Station. "The Israel Police takes very seriously the crime of 'attacking a public official' and will work to bring the suspect to justice," it said.
Another person called out to the Minister of National Security while recording the incident, "Murderer. You are walking here along the beach while the hostages are being killed in Gaza. You are a murderer of girls, a murderer of hostages, you are a deranged murderer. How dare you walk on the beach? All the hostages are dying in Gaza because of you, and your children must know this - hostages are dead in Gaza because of your father."
Ben Gvir's office said, "An anarchist threw sand at the minister on the beach in Tel Aviv. The anarchist was arrested by the police. Minister Ben Gvir thanks the security team and the police officers who acted quickly."
Ben Gvir later wrote in a post on X, "Today I arrived for a few hours with my family at the beach in Tel Aviv, and I was received by the bathers on the beach with great sympathy. A small handful of left-wing demonstrators on the beach began to shout at me and call on me to leave. Their right, this is freedom of expression, but the beach does not belong to their father. At the same time, I thank the police and the security guards who acted decisively to arrest a woman who threw a handful of sand at me and my small children. Violence is a red line."
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)