Cabinet secretary: Reduce number of gov't meeting attendees

"The cabinet meetings are closed meetings, and the presence of those who should not be in the meeting room is extremely burdensome, harms the discussion's effectiveness and even shows disrespect to the entire occasion," Yehezkel wrote, adding that "reducing the number of people present at the government meeting will enable us to hold an organized, efficient and reasonable discussions, without disruptions, and may even limit the leaks phenomenon."

Cabinet meeting (Photo: Flash 90)

The appendix attached to the letter includes the new principles and procedures set by Yehezkel, according to which the IDF chief of staff, the police commissioner, the Shin Bet chief, the Mossad chief, the head of Military Intelligence, the Bank of Israel governor and the Finance Ministry director-general will only be allowed to bring one assistant to the meetings, and only "if they inform the cabinet secretary in advance."

According to another procedure, all cabinet meeting attendees, including ministers, must shut off their cellular phones and pagers before entering the meeting. The cabinet secretary also ruled that laptops were forbidden, unless a minister planned to make a presentation to the government, in which case the cabinet secretary must be informed by email beforehand.

'Instructions disrespectful to ministers'

"I have been attending cabinet meetings for years, I have seen many prime ministers and many cabinet secretaries, and I have never encountered such impertinence," a senior government official complained.

"There is no director-general of a government office or a senior staff member who come to the cabinet meetings for their own pleasure. It's their job, in order to help. These instructions are disrespectful to the ministers, to the director-generals and to the senior government officials," he said.

One of the ministers who expressed his dissatisfaction with the new procedures, and particularly with the way they were conveyed to the ministers, said that "it's nice that the cabinet secretary wants to organize things, but he should first learn who is necessary and who isn't at the cabinet meetings.

"We are talking about public figures, who have been part of the political and governmental system for some years. Some of them even held senior positions in the defense establishment. He cannot talk to them as if he were a principal and they were schoolchildren."

Education Minister Yuli Tamir, who supports Yehezkel's new moves, said after receiving the letter, "The meeting was much more efficient and there were no background noises. The government room is a very difficult room in terms of acoustics.

"So far it was much less pleasant and sometimes the guests were even rude and allowed themselves to do things even ministers would not allow themselves to do. The cabinet secretary's new procedures, as they were expressed in today's cabinet meeting, have proved themselves."

Sources close to the cabinet secretary said Sunday, "Since taking office, Yehezkel has said that he views the cabinet meeting room as the State of Israel's hall of rule, which should be treated with holiness.

"All his actions will be aimed at making the government meetings quiet and organized. The cabinet secretary has said a number of times that all his actions are aimed at helping the ministers and the prime minister in their daily work.

"It was clear that limiting the number of participants at the cabinet meeting room will not be convenient for some people, but the goal is not to hurt them. Every person must be respected, but the cabinet meeting room must only host the minimum number of guests relevant to the discussion."