Prime Minister Benjamin issued a strong condemnation against the anti-government protests and said they have crossed the line of a legitimate protest.
"In a democracy, demonstrations are legitimate. However, what is happening in the financed, organized, and political protests against the Government, which have crossed every line, is that they are vandalizing property, blocking roads, making millions of citizens miserable, and chasing after elected officials and their children, on their way to kindergarten and school," Netanyahu stated.
According to the Prime Minister, the protesters "threaten to murder me, the Prime Minister, and my family on a daily basis, and they deal in arson. They said that they would surround my house, the Prime Minister's Residence, with a ring of fire, literally like fascist gangs."
Addressing the arson near his residence in Jerusalem, he said: "They lit a fire on Harlap Street, right next to my home, and this fire also ignited a car. The car belongs to Captain (Res.) Yoav Bar Yishai. He is the grandson of Yaakov Neeman, who was an amazing Finance and Justice Minister.
"This year, Yoav has served around 260 days, in three rounds, in both Gaza and Lebanon. He serves as an officer in an elite Armored Corps unit. He has three daughters. They burned his car. His wife cannot take the kids [anywhere]. Then they volunteered to finance the purchase of a new car. Don't do us any favors. Don't make us laugh. You talk about democracy? You talk and behave just like fascists."
Later, he called out the law enforcement officials: "What's happening here is simple - there is no enforcement, when there is no enforcement, there is escalation. And indeed, they began by breaking through roadblocks, after that, they tried to break through fences, and after that, they fired flares, which nearly burned a security guard to death next to my house, and now they are making a ring of fire.
"Where is the law enforcement? It doesn't exist. This isn't selective enforcement; there isn't any enforcement at all, and this must change. This is what I demand from the enforcement bodies. This is what the people demand to uphold democracy."