Last week, Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot held a campaign event in the southern city of Kiryat Malachi. The Koresh synagogue on David Ben-Gurion Street was packed to the rafters, primarily with guests who had traveled from nearby communities and kibbutzim. City council member Elior Amar moderated the gathering.
The first speaker was Yoram Cohen, the former Shin Bet chief who is now the No. 2 on Eisenkot’s electoral slate. Just two minutes after Cohen began his address, a local thug erupted in a barrage of abuse and threats, attempting to derail the entire event. The man had been sitting patiently near the front, biding his time.
It was a difficult scene to witness. A former Shin Bet chief stood at the podium, forced to endure vile threats and the lowest kind of verbal abuse.
Sitting in the front row was Eisenkot himself, whom current Shin Bet chief David Zini flatly refuses to provide with a security detail. Eisenkot did not turn around, but he shifted with visible discomfort in his chair, his lips pursed. I noticed that the three security guards who had accompanied him stood calmly near the stage, prepared to protect Cohen, who was the direct target of the attack.
I am no expert on security details, but I did not see guards simultaneously shielding Eisenkot from the front and the rear, as is standard procedure when a senior state official attends this type of event.
