Report calls for most ministers to lose bodyguards

The majority of ministers should no longer be accompanied by bodyguards, while those who have been threatened or who have access to classified security information should retain their escort, according to a report commissioned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and revealed Sunday.

More than a decade after all ministers received personal bodyguards following the murder of minister Rehavam Ze’evi, the system is set to undergo changes, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

The proposed changes would withdraw bodyguards from most ministers while retaining the security around their homes.

Minister with access to classified and sensitive security documents, and those traveling outside of Israel, would still be escorted by guards.

Such a cut would reduce the number of bodyguards by more than half, and save the state coffers millions of shekels. There are 160 bodyguards designated for ministers now, while only 50-70 would be needed under the new plan, according to the Yedioth report.

The panel that produced the report also examined how long security measures would continue to be provided to officials no longer serving. Former prime ministers, IDF chiefs of staff, heads of Mossad and others all receive state-funded protection.

The Prime Minister’s Office and Shin Bet said the body headed by former Foreign Ministry head Joseph Ciechanover had yet to hand in its recommendations, and no decisions had been made.

Following the assassination of Ze’evi in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001, the Shin Bet changed its protocol regarding the personal security of ministers. Their home security was tightened with surveillance measures and the physical presence of guards, and the ministers were required to have bodyguards present at all times.