Israel far-right police minister barred from security briefs

ISRAEL’S hardline security minister has been barred from intelligence briefings after a series of sensitive document leaks.

Itamar Ben-gvir is accused of breaching the security guidelines he is appointed to protect. He faces a boycott by the country’s national security council. Since war broke out in October, the far-right minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, has been increasingly sidelined. He has been accused of illegally photographing classified attendees of high-level intelligence meetings, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

Last month, Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence chiefs also refused to meet with him any more after relations between the two sides became irreparable following clashes in weekly security meetings. Shin Bet accused the minister of leaking information and breaching protocol such as bringing mobile phones into meetings. The boycott leaves Ben-gvir in the dark on key matters of intelligence.

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 disregard everyone around him, in spite of his not having any background in [these] issues. He is a liability.”

It comes on the eve of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. when tensions in Israel are expected to spike following Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s call for all Palestinians to march on Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque compound.

Last week, the terror group’s political chief said: “This is a call on our people in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march to Al-aqsa since the first day of Ramadan,” which Israeli government spokesman Tal Heirich described as “trying to drag us to wars”.

Ben-gvir tried to limit number of worshippers at the mosque, a flashpoint for Jews and Muslims, but the war cabinet banned his plans for fears of an ever-expanding war.

‘The biggest threat to Israel from within is Bengvir. He acts within his own rules. He’s a liability’