Gantz: Probe security leaks
Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on Monday for the immediate opening of an investigation to uncover who in Israel has been leaking classified details on Israeli operations to the media. Gantz sent the request to Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit.
“I am not talking about a specific operation, but I do want to talk about the chatter issue,” Gantz told reporters on Monday. “It is a serious issue and I turned to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the IDF’s Information Security Department to open an investigation into it. We can’t operate when everyone is babbling. We can’t accept these winkings and these ‘Western sources’ stories,” he said.
“It harms our troops, our security, and the interest of the State of Israel, and I think that there should be a thorough investigation,” Gantz said. The Defense Ministry later said that Gantz also sent the request to Mandelblit.
Gantz’s call for a probe came a day after “Western sources” – widely assumed to be Israeli – were quoted in the media saying that the Mossad was behind the cyberattack at Natanz, which caused extensive damage to Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility. It was also less than a week after reports that the Israeli Navy was behind an attack against Iran’s IRGC Saviz vessel in the Red Sea.
Asked if the cabinet changed Israel’s policy of ambiguity regarding top-secret operations, Gantz said that “there was no discussion about it. I think that it is irresponsible behavior – and if it comes from personal or political interests, it is even worse.
“I don’t know where it