Naftali Bennett leaving the Defense Ministry for the last time
Naftali Bennett leaving the Defense Ministry for the last timeSpokesman

On Tuesday, the General Security Service removed its protection from former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett (Yamina). Bennett served as Defense Minister between November 2019 and May 2020, when he was replaced by Benny Gantz, following the formation of the current unity government.

At a meeting of the government’s ministerial committee on security affairs held in May 2020, the committee’s head, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, made the decision to shorten the customary period of state security protection granted to outgoing Defense Ministers from five years to three months, in the specific case of Naftali Bennett, and the committee approved his decision. As such, Bennett’s security detail, which was until now around-the-clock and included travel in armored vehicles only, came to an end on Tuesday, August 18.

At the same meeting, it was also decided to extend state security protection to the children of Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz.

It should be noted that former Defense Ministers Moshe Yaalon and Avigdor Liberman are still benefiting from state security protection, despite having left their positions years ago (2016 in the case of Yaalon, and 2018 in the case of Liberman). A period of five years’ protection is generally granted due to the fact that any Defense Minister, regardless of the length of his tenure, is made privy to sensitive security information which makes him a potential target for several years following his period in office, and this is no less true of Bennett.

In addition, tangible threats against Bennett’s life were recently made by several enemy figures. In April of this year, Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was interviewed by the Shehab News Agency and addressed Bennett directly, telling him: “I refer you to the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 17, to read what awaits you and your filthy [Zionist] entity.”

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also directly addressed Bennett in a televised speech in May of this year, accusing “the Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett [of trying] to create a false impression and lie to the Israeli public, when speaking of Israel’s achievements in Syria at the expense of Syria and Iran.”

Referring to Bennett’s stated intention to “get Iran out of Syria by the end of 2020,” as Nasrallah quoted him, the Hezbollah leader said, “Bennett was foolish enough to claim that he’ll get Iran out of Syria by the end of 2020. Write down the date and we’ll see what really happens.”