The Israel Police said on Wednesday night that it had ruled out a suspected bomb threat at President Isaac Herzog’s official residence in Jerusalem.
Police bomb disposal experts were called to the residence after a woman going through security screening was found to have possible “traces of a suspicious substance on her person,” according to the force.
The woman, a journalist with foreign citizenship, was still being questioned, Ynet reported.
A spokesman for Herzog confirmed to JNS that an X-ray scanner had raised an alert while visitors were being screened.
“Entry to the Residence has been suspended for now, pending clarification,” the spokesman said before police gave the all-clear. “The matter is being looked into with the relevant authorities.”
The scare came as Herzog was set to begin consultations on forming a government with the factions elected to the 26th Knesset.
His meetings with the Religious Zionist Party, Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu and Zehut went ahead as scheduled on Wednesday evening.
On Tuesday night, Herzog urged the newly elected factions to work toward a stable government and avoid another election. He spoke as he accepted the European Jewish Congress’s highest honor in Tel Aviv.
He called on party leaders to come to the President’s Residence with “an open mind and an open heart.”
“The government of Israel is not a zero-sum game between winners and losers,” he said. “We have to find the right mechanisms to have a stable government and not to vote for further elections.”
