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Israel ups security at public events for Netanyahu and cabinet ministers

“Any participation by them in a mass event requires a protected space.”

Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, speaks at the annual Cyber Week at Tel Aviv University on June 27, 2023. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.
Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, speaks at the annual Cyber Week at Tel Aviv University on June 27, 2023. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.

The Israel Security Agency has instructed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and government ministers to take extra security precautions at public events, Channel 12 reported on Wednesday.

The security instructions come against the backdrop of preparations for a violent Iranian response to the assassination of Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran early Wednesday.

“As part of the instructions given to Netanyahu and the ministers, any participation by them in a mass event requires a protected space. ISA Director Ronen Bar ordered that every tour conducted by the prime minister and ministers requires his personal approval,” said the report.

Israeli embassies were instructed to raise their alert levels and for ambassadors and diplomatic officials to maintain a low profile amid fears of an Iranian attack abroad.

The security establishment estimates that an Iranian response will occur in the coming days.

“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost—taking out three of yours.”
Crowds thronged the plaza at Judaism’s second-holiest site, with the event broadcast on giant screens along the Old City walls.
The meeting included a reunion between two Satmar rebbes who have been at odds since a succession dispute divided the community after their father’s death in 2006.
“By welcoming Mamdani into a Jewish space as if he were safe, we tell Jews to lower their guard and tell everyone else that our concerns are overblown,” Inna Vernikov told JNS. “They are not.”