Heavy police forces were dispatched Tuesday to the President’s Residence in Jerusalem amid concerns of a possible planned attack at the secured compound.
The alert was raised after a wallet was found containing a note that included, among other details, the time at which an attack was allegedly supposed to take place at the site.
Large numbers of police officers, including bomb disposal units from the Jerusalem District, conducted thorough searches in coordination with the Executive Protection Unit and the internal security team of the President’s Residence, where President Isaac Herzog lives.
Following an extensive inspection, authorities ruled out the threat of an attack and lifted the heightened alert.
Police said that comprehensive searches were carried out after the initial report and confirmed that there was no danger to the President’s Residence. At the same time, an investigation was launched to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
In a statement, police said that preliminary investigative findings indicated the suspect is a mentally unstable individual who had been arrested earlier overnight by district officers for involvement in an unrelated criminal incident.
Jerusalem District officials said the suspect was brought before a court, which ordered his detention extended by six days.
The Executive Protection Unit, responsible for securing the president and other senior officials, was established in 1958 after a hand grenade was thrown inside the Knesset a year earlier. In that October 1957 attack, then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and ministers Golda Meir and Moshe Haim Shapira were wounded.
In the aftermath, Israel decided to establish a dedicated unit to protect the prime minister. Its mandate was later expanded to include the president, defense minister, foreign minister, Knesset speaker, opposition leader and the president of the Supreme Court.
The classified unit, whose members include graduates of elite combat units, operates under the security division of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service.