Justice Minister Levin Decides Shin Bet Will Set Security for Party Leaders

Justice Minister Yariv Levin unilaterally decided that the Shin Bet security agency will determine the security arrangements for party leaders until the upcoming elections, after no other ministers attended a committee meeting on the matter. The decision was made during a meeting attended by Levin, along with representatives from the Shin Bet and the government secretariat.

The committee concluded that convening ministerial bodies to approve security during the dynamic election period is inefficient. Consequently, the Shin Bet will now be responsible for assessing threats and deciding who to secure and how, based on ongoing situation assessments within the agency.

This meeting was convened following a request from the Central Elections Committee Chairman, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, to the National Security Council head, requesting a discussion on the Shin Bet's refusal to provide security for Yair Golan, chairman of the Democratic Party, and Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Israeli Party.

Two weeks prior, an advisory committee had recommended approving Shin Bet security only for Gadi Eisenkot until election day. Justice Sohlberg's letter highlighted that he had received multiple inquiries on the subject, emphasizing the need to define the authority responsible for determining threats against party leaders and for providing security, differentiating between Knesset members, ministers, symbols of authority, and non-Knesset candidates like Golan and Eisenkot.

Reports indicated that despite the police raising their threat assessment for Yair Golan, the Shin Bet continues to refuse him security. Golan's party sent a letter to senior law enforcement officials, alleging that Shin Bet Director David Barnia is "knowingly abandoning Yair Golan's security and endangering his life."