Six days after the swearing-in ceremony of the new government and of new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, on June 13, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara and their son Yair still live at the official residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem. Reports earlier this week said Netanyahu will not leave the official residence for another several weeks at least.

Netanyahu is taking advantage of the fact that Israel has no official regulations on vacating the premier’s residence. He is also taking advantage of the fact that Bennett’s family plans to remain in their private home in Ra’anana, near Tel Aviv, for the time being. Bennett plans to live in Ra’anana during the week, and use the residence on Balfour Street for official meetings and on weekends.

The Shin Bet and the Ra’anana municipality have already taken steps to secure the house and to limit accessibility to the surrounding streets. Already before his swearing-in, associates of Bennett said he and his wife Gilat were not keen on relocating their four children from schools in the town where they live. The Netanyahu family has done the opposite, staying at the official residence during the week and returning to their family home in Caesarea on weekends.

The official Jerusalem residence had become a symbol of Netanyahu’s clinging to power. Over the past two years, many anti-Netanyahu demonstrations took place nearby, nicknamed “the Balfour protest.” The Crime Minister group, which had led the anti-Netanyahu protests, sent a letter June 16 to the prime minister’s office on that issue. It threatened to petition the High Court if Netanyahu does not vacate the official prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem by June 27. Addressing the prime minister’s legal adviser Shlomit Barnea, the group demanded that her office set a date, no later than two weeks after the June 13 swearing-in of the new government, for Netanyahu to leave the house.