Shin Bet Denies Close Protection for Eisenkot and Golan

The Shin Bet announced Tuesday evening that it will not assign security details on behalf of the agency to the heads of parties running for the Knesset. The decision rejects the requests of Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Golan.

However, the Shin Bet spokesperson said that "in accordance with the decision of the Ministerial Committee on the security of party leaders, the Shin Bet carried out expedited staff work, within the framework of the law, to formulate an immediate and relevant response to the security issue. Following consultations with professional bodies inside and outside the service, Shin Bet chief David Zini approved several measures to create the best possible security response for party leaders."

"Shin Bet intelligence units will provide an oversight framework and intelligence support, including monitoring and building a threat assessment around each party leader. If a party leader wishes to have security, the private security company they hire will be authorized to carry weapons, even in the absence of intelligence or a specific threat."

"There will be full coordination between the Shin Bet security division and the party leaders and their private security teams, for guidance purposes and to improve the existing security framework. The service will conduct periodic situation assessments, examining the threat level for each party leader, and based on those assessments, the level and method of security implementation for each party leader will be determined."