Democrats accuse politically appointed panel of dragging its feet on Golan’s security detail

By Ariela Karmel

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2 September 2026, 6:44 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats party and a former IDF deputy chief of staff, speaks during an election campaign rally in Netanya, Israel, August 27, 2026. (Gili Yaari/Flash90.)

The Democrats party says its leader, Yair Golan, is being denied a security detail due to “discriminatory, politically tainted conduct,” despite facing threats on his life.

The left-wing party says the government’s Advisory Committee for Personal Security is dragging its feet on approving guards for Golan. The party says police assess that Golan faces the same threat level as opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot, for whom the panel has already recommended state-funded protection.

In an urgent letter to Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg, Democrats director-general Omer Lubaton Granot says police recently raised the threat level against Golan to four out of six. But the Advisory Committee for Personal Security recommended security for Eisenkot on Sunday, while postponing a decision on Golan until a yet-to-be-scheduled hearing.

Lubaton Granot notes that two of the advisory committee’s three members are political appointees of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and accuses the panel of being swayed by politics.

This is amid a “serious escalation” in death threats against Golan, including calls for his murder and execution, Lubaton Granot says.

On Monday, the premier’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, repeated a conspiracy theory that Golan had advance knowledge of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught. The Democrats leader, who drove south during the attack and rescued survivors of the Nova music festival massacre, has since threatened to sue Netanyahu for libel unless she retracts her remarks.

The Democrats call on another body, the ministerial committee on Shin Bet affairs, which is headed by the premier and has final authority over the matter, to immediately approve enhanced security for Golan. If it does not, the party says it will petition the High Court of Justice over the matter “before the next political assassination takes place here.”

Both Golan and Eisenkot repeatedly sought Shin Bet protection last month amid mounting threats, but the committee tasked with assessing their requests convened only following Sohlberg’s intervention. Neither man is currently an MK and therefore is not automatically entitled to the security afforded to elected officials, meaning any state-funded protection must be separately approved.