Israeli Security Minister Ben Gvir banned from sensitive meetings after leaking classified information The Telegraph Israel's hardline security minister has been banned from intelligence briefings after a series of leaks of sensitive documents.
Itamar Ben Gvir is accused of violating the very security guidelines he was appointed to protect and faces a boycott by the country's National Security Council. Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October, the right-wing minister has been marginalized under Benjamin Netanyahu's increasingly far-right coalition. He has been accused of secretly filming attendees illegally during high-level intelligence meetings,
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Last month, Israeli local Shin Bet intelligence chiefs also refused to meet him after relations between the two sides became irreparable following clashes in weekly security meetings.
The Shin Bet accused the minister of leaking information and breaking protocol such as bringing cell phones to meetings. The boycott by Israel's two largest domestic security agencies leaves Ben Gvir, who once indicted himself on terror charges, in the dark on key intelligence matters.
A senior Israeli intelligence source told The Telegraph: “The biggest threat to Israel from within is Ben Gvir. He acts within his own rules and tries to ignore everyone around him, despite not having any background in national security and defense issues.
“This comes on the eve of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month in which tensions are expected to rise in Israel after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on all Palestinians to march through the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem. Last week, the terrorist group’s political head said: “This is an invitation to our people.” In Jerusalem and the West Bank to walk to Al-Aqsa from the first day of Ramadan,” which Israeli government spokesman Tal Herish described as “an attempt to drag us into wars on other fronts.”
Ben Gvir tried to pass legislation to limit the number of worshipers in the mosque complex, a flashpoint for Jews and Muslims and a sacred site for both faiths, but the War Cabinet blocked his plans for fear it would take Israel into an expanding war.
