Panel makes recommendations for briefing security cabinet
A committee set up in May to prevent a coalition crisis presented its recommendations on Monday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how to make sure the National Security Council keeps security cabinet ministers in the loop in times of crisis.
The committee was established as part of a compromise reached between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett that enabled Bennett to vote for the appointment of Avigdor Liberman as defense minister.
Bennett had threatened not to do so unless a military secretary were appointed who would regularly brief the security cabinet.
The demand came after Bennett and other ministers complained at the time that the security cabinet was not sufficiently briefed during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
The agreement also called for the establishment of a committee, headed by Netanyahu’s former National Security Council head, Yaakov Amidror, that was to propose other ways to make the work of the NSC more efficient.
The chief recommendations of that committee include the establishment of a new body inside the NSC charged with providing updates and briefings to the security cabinet ministers to prepare them for meetings.
In addition, the committee, which also included Yohanan Locker and Joseph Ciechanover, called for implementing a process of better familiarizing the security cabinet ministers with knowledge of the issues, and giving training to new security cabinet ministers.
The committee also called for a greater clarification of the duties of the security cabinet during normal times, as well as in times of crisis.
Bennett welcomed the committee’s proposals, saying that his determination on this matter had paid off.
“There is no doubt that in the last few months there was a significant improvement in the updates given the security cabinet ministers, which happens on a weekly basis and in a sufficient and professional manner,” he said.
Netanyahu thanked the committee for its work and said he would study the report and bring it before the security cabinet for discussion.