Maj.-Gen. Kochavi
Maj.-Gen. KochaviIsrael news photo: Flash 90

In an unusual step, the Prime Minister and Defense Minister prevented the representatives of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency – in charge of collecting intelligence within Israel's borders) and Military Intelligence from providing a Knesset subcommittee with details of the alerts Israel possessed before the Eilat terror attacks.

The Head of Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen Aviv Kochavi, appeared before the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Secret Services, which holds its sessions under a mantle of secrecy, but informed it that he had received directions not to divulge the details of what the IDF knew regarding terrorist plans to attack, before the attacks took place.

"The decision by the Prime Minister and Defense Minister causes meaningful and intentional damage to the Subcommittee's ability to act to fulfill its responsibility as is required of it as the parliamentary body entrusted with supervising Israel's intelligence and security bodies," MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) stated. Mofaz heads the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, which includes the subcommittee on intelligence.   

"It is absolutely clear that the decision by the Prime Minister and Defense Minister has nothing to do with professional or security related aspects and is completely the result of foreign considerations…", he added.

Mofaz asked Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin "to summon the Prime Minister and Defense Minister and to act in this matter."