Israeli Agency To Direct Guard For Party Leader Starting Sunday
The Shin Bet will instruct a private firm protecting Gadi Eisenkot, reversing an August finding that he did not qualify for elite unit coverage.
By Sanjay Ivanov ·
A dispute over who protects Gadi Eisenkot ends Sunday, when Israel's domestic security agency takes charge of arrangements for the Yashar party chairman. The party said a private firm will guard Eisenkot from Sunday morning under Unit 730's direct instruction.
The agency's chief, David Zini, decided in August that Eisenkot did not meet the criteria for Unit 730 protection. That assessment shifted in September after the Advisory Committee for Personal Security reviewed updated intelligence and threat evaluations for the Yashar leader, then recommended Shin Bet oversight. Zini approved a package of measures for party leaders that includes intelligence support from agency units, permission for privately hired security teams to carry weapons, coordination between those teams and the Shin Bet, and periodic threat assessments.
The Ministerial Committee for Shin Bet Affairs authorized Zini to set protections for party leaders who hold no public office and are not otherwise entitled to state security. That authorization remains in effect until a new Knesset is sworn in.
Requests have not been granted uniformly. Yair Golan, chairman of The Democrats, petitioned for the same protection, citing a threat level he said matched Eisenkot's. The Shin Bet denied him immediate coverage at this stage.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
