Cabinet Members to Get Advanced Security Updates

Members of the security cabinet will now receive ongoing updates on the security picture in general, and on specific incidents. A committee appointed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to examine the matter recommended that such briefings be held, providing Education Minister Naftali Bennett with an important political victory.

The committee, consisting of top members of the defense establishment – its chairman was former National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror – recommended that the briefing panel include senior military and intelligence officials, who will provide ongoing updates to ministers. The group would be responsible for communicating information, especially during a national emergency, empowering ministers to make better decisions on policy.

Bennett had demanded the establishment of the committee, and had even made it a condition of the inclusion of Jewish Home in the government. The demand came in the wake of the tunnel threat that emerged during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge campaign, in which the government seemed “surprised” by the fact that Gaza Arab terrorists were using tunnels to send terrorists into Israel – while it became clear that the intelligence and security community had long been aware of the threat.

Commenting on the development, Bennett said that “this proves that stubbornness pays off. There is no doubt that briefings have improved in recent months, and now take place weekly. Those briefings enable us to make better-informed decisions that can provide better defense strategies for all Israelis, soldiers and citizens.”