Starting Wednesday, Yashar! party leader Gadi Eisenkot will receive full protection from the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, for the first time. The agency's elite VIP protection unit, Unit 730, will replace his private security guards, three days after protesters outside his home shouted "traitor" at the former Israeli military chief.
On Sunday evening, a small group of demonstrators supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gathered outside Eisenkot's home. One protester shouted through a megaphone, "You murdered your son, traitor!" Other demonstrators joined in the chants, against the backdrop of a campaign within Netanyahu's Likud party to delegitimize the election results. Eisenkot's son, Master Sgt. (res.) Gal Meir Eisenkot, was killed in combat in the Gaza Strip in December 2023.
Yashar! party leader Gadi Eisenkot
(Photo: MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
About a week and a half ago, before the election, the Yashar!, Democrats and Amcha Yisrael parties announced that they had been informed that responsibility for protecting their leaders would fall to the Shin Bet. At the time, Yashar! said Eisenkot would be guarded by a private security company operating under the direct supervision and control of Unit 730. The latest decision suggests a change in circumstances that warranted upgrading his security arrangements.
In a statement issued last month, the Shin Bet said it would provide oversight and intelligence support, including monitoring threats and compiling intelligence assessments concerning all party leaders. The agency said it would conduct regular security assessments to determine the level of threat facing each leader and the appropriate protection measures.
"If a party leader wishes to receive security protection, the private security company they hire will be authorized to carry firearms, even in the absence of intelligence or a concrete threat," the agency said.
The Shin Bet was given authority to determine which party leaders should receive protection by the ministerial committee overseeing the agency, although it had not intervened directly in their security arrangements throughout the election campaign.
At the committee meeting, chaired by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, it was decided that the Shin Bet would independently determine the security measures required for party leaders who were not already receiving protection, until the 26th Knesset is sworn in. Levin was the only minister who attended the meeting and decided that Shin Bet chief David Zini would be responsible for determining the security arrangements for Eisenkot, Democrats leader Yair Golan and Amcha Yisrael leader Ofer Winter.