Shin Bet chief David Zini told Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot to call an “emergency hotline” if he faces a security issue, as the agency head refused to provide armed bodyguards for the election’s opposition front-runner, according to a Sunday report.
Channel 13 news reported that Zini spoke with Eisenkot over the weekend, telling him, “Here is the number for the emergency hotline. If something happens, that is the number.”
The network said that a Shin Bet official later followed up with Eisenkot to say he was the person to contact in case of an issue.
The report came after Zini confirmed on Sunday that he denied Yashar’s request to provide an armed security detail for Eisenkot, and after Central Elections Committee chair Noam Sohlberg said that the Shin Bet head had informed him that there was no intelligence suggesting any plot to harm the Yashar party leader.
In his statement, Zini said, “The decision on not attaching a security detail to Mr. Eisenkot was made by the Shin Bet head, and he is solely responsible for this issue,” adding that before making the decision, the Shin Bet chief consulted with professionals, including Sohlberg.
