Shin Bet rejects security for Eisenkot despite threat level

The Yisrael Beitenu party, led by Gadi Eisenkot, announced Tuesday evening that the Shin Bet has declined, for now, the request to assign a security detail to the party chairman and prime ministerial candidate. The decision comes despite earlier assessments and despite the explicit recommendation of the advisory committee for protecting public figures.

About a month ago, Eisenkot's chief of staff, Ron Barkai, sent a letter to Shin Bet chief David Zinni regarding the security issue. In early September, police raised the threat level on the Yisrael Beitenu chairman to level 4 out of 6, according to a report on Channel 12 News. The practical meaning of the decision is recognition of a high level of threat against the former IDF chief of staff.

According to the report, police assess that Eisenkot faces targeted risk in the context of the current election campaign. The assessment comes at a time when Yisrael Beitenu has been strengthening in polls and has become one of the main contenders for the premiership.

Alongside the elevation of the threat level, Police Commissioner Danny Levy submitted a written opinion to the advisory committee for protecting public figures, in which he recommended that Eisenkot be provided with immediate armed security. The recommendation reflects the severity of the situation as perceived by senior police officials.

The advisory committee recommended to the ministerial committee that the Shin Bet be the body to provide security for Eisenkot, but the final decision would be made by the ministerial committee on Shin Bet affairs. Now, according to the announcement published by Yisrael Beitenu, the Shin Bet has declined the request for the time being.

It should be noted that the threat level assigned to Eisenkot is identical to that attributed to Democrats party chairman Yair Golan, who is also at the centre of a turbulent political campaign. The Democrats party filed an urgent petition to the High Court this morning demanding that the Shin Bet chief and the Israeli government be compelled to provide immediate security for Golan.

In the petition filed through the Democrats' legal adviser, Adv. Omri Segev, it is argued that although Israel Police raised the threat level on Golan to level 4 out of 6, identical to that of Eisenkot, only the Democrats chairman was denied security. The High Court published an initial decision in the petition today, and according to reports the justices did not order an interim injunction, but instructed service chief David Zinni to immediately consider assigning security to Golan due to the level of threats against him.

Shin Bet statement:

In accordance with the decision of the ministerial committee on security for party leaders, rapid staff work was carried out in the Shin Bet in which an immediate and relevant response to the security issue was formulated within the framework of the law.

Following consultations with professional bodies inside the service and outside it, Shin Bet chief David Zinni approved a number of measures in order to create an optimal security response for party leaders:

Intelligence units in the Shin Bet will provide an envelope of intelligence supervision and accompaniment including monitoring and building a threat picture around all party leaders.

If a party leader wishes security, the security company he hires will be approved to carry weapons, even in the absence of intelligence or a concrete threat.

Full coordination will take place between the security division in the Shin Bet and the party leaders and their private security teams, for the purposes of guidance and improvement of the existing security envelope.

The service will conduct a periodic situation assessment in which the threat level for each party leader will be examined, and accordingly the level and manner of implementing security for each party leader will be determined.

The decision regarding Eisenkot comes in the midst of a turbulent election campaign, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed this morning during his visit to the Tel Nof Air Force Base that there are signs that soon, ahead of the election campaign, attempts will be made to attack Israel. "We have signs that ahead of the elections our enemies will try to attack us," Netanyahu said.

Yisrael Beitenu responded to Netanyahu's remarks: "If Netanyahu's statements regarding security threats are correct, this requires immediate briefing of opposition chairman Yair Lapid. This is to ensure that we are indeed dealing with a real threat and not a political move designed to harm the election campaign. It is absolutely forbidden to mix Israel's security with the election campaign. Not even for appearances."