Israeli PM adjourns security cabinet meeting on Iran over leak

TEHRAN,Sept.6(MNA) – In a rare and dramatic move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday adjourned, because of leaks to the press, the second part of a security cabinet meeting that began Tuesday and dealt with Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported. Netanyahu, according to a statement issued by his office, said at the outset of the meeting that “something grave happened shortly after the conclusion of the meeting yesterday: leaks from the security cabinet meeting.” Netanyahu convened the security cabinet on Tuesday for an annual meeting on Israel’s intelligence assessments, a meeting that dealt in depth with the Iranian issue. According to the Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu’s ire was apparently aroused by the lead headline in Wednesday’s Yediot Aharonot, which read: “Disagreement about Iran among the intelligence agencies.” According to the story, the members of the security cabinet were shocked to hear that Israel’s different intelligence agencies – the Mossad, Shin Bet, and Army Intelligence – do not agree about the Iranian issue. According to the report, the disagreement is over the so-called “zone of immunity,” that period where the Iranians will have progressed on their nuclear program beyond the point where an Israeli attack would be effective. Netanyahu, adjourning the second part of the meeting, told the ministers that he did not have anything against the media, which was just doing its job. “I have a grievance against the person who broke the most basic trust needed to hold security cabinet meetings, and harmed the ability to hold classified meetings.” Tuesday’s meeting was the first in-depth meeting on Iran held by the security-cabinet in months, during which “no operational decisions were made,” according to Ynetnews. While Prime Minister Netanyahu’s inner cabinet, which is made up of Netanyahu and eight other ministers, can give an advisory opinion on whether to attack Iran, the actual decision needs to be made by the security cabinet, according to the Jerusalem Post. This body could also choose to bring such a decision to the full 29-member cabinet. In addition to Netanyahu, the security cabinet also includes Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Construction and Housing Minister Arial Attias, Minister Bennie Begin, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon, National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau, Intelligence Agencies Minster Dan Meridor, Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom. In August, an official Israeli source was quoted by the foreign media as saying that the eight-minister security forum – the body Netanyahu consults with on security issues, but one devoid of any official authority – has not held “an actual debate” on the issue since October, Ynetnews reported on Tuesday.