Shas Chairman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai has reportedly been pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to include him in his six-man security forum, dubbed "the sextet."
The six-member forum currently includes Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak,
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman,
Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon, Minister of Intelligence Services Dan Meridor and Minister Benny Begin (Likud).
With similar demands by Minister for Regional Development Silvan Shalom Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Habayit Hayehudi Chairman
Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, Netanyahu's reluctance to grant Yishai's request seems to stem from the concern that such a precedent may soon see the six-minister forum turn into a 10-man forum.
With the National Security Cabinet failing to convene over the past few weeks, the sextet has become the forum which discusses Israel's political and security policies.
Netanyahu calls forum meetings two to three times a week. The secret session debates Hezbollah and
Iran's threats,
the tensions on the northern border, the situation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Israel's settlements
policies.
The forum is often joined by IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi,
Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin, Mossad Chief Meir Dagan and other senior defense establishment officials.
Source in the Prime Minister's Office admit that while the National Security Cabinet should be convened more often, its sheer size – 22 participants, five observers and two professional delegates – has rendered it ineffective in matters concerning day-to-day security decisions.
Netanyahu is said to prefer the sextet both since its size reduces the chances of leaks and due to his relative ability to control the nature of the decisions the forum makes.
The Shas chair
asked to be included in the forum during the coalition talks and has since reiterated the request numerous times. Shas sources told Ynet Netanyahu had promised to look into the matter, but faced with Lieberman's objections to the move and other ministers' demands, he has yet to act.
Shas sources stressed that while Yishai's demand was "as just as it can be," the party will not turn the prime minister's procrastination into a political crisis.
Yishai's demand to be included in the forum, which would turn the sextet into a septuplet, has been kept under wraps until recently, primarily due to his reluctance to cause chaos in the government during its first months in office.
Yishai himself refused to comment on the matter. Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said that "the prime minister values Minister Yishai's experience and abilities and finds ways to include him in security and political processes."
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