Defense Minister Israel Katz left a security cabinet meeting yesterday in the middle to attend the wedding of a Likud official’s son, Hebrew media reports, in an apparent case of campaigning for the August 17 primaries, sidelining national security discussions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly asked, “Where is the defense minister?” after Katz headed to the wedding of Kiryat Ata Mayor Yaakov Peretz’s son, and then to the engagement party of a family member of senior ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto.
Katz reportedly also attended a series of other such events in recent days during security flare-ups, including meeting other Haredi rabbis and a group of Likud women, which were held inside ministerial offices in violation of laws barring the use of government assets for party politics.
Katz’s office responds that he held close to 10 hours of security discussions yesterday, won’t go into detail regarding the security forums, and that the meetings were held at the Defense Ministry due to his busy schedule that included other meetings there.
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From the Liveblog of
Friday, August 7, 2026
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