MKs push bill to create new intelligence oversight body under Netanyahu
Ministerial Committee for Legislation set to discuss proposal despite ongoing leak scandal at the Prime Minister’s Office
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is slated to discuss a bill on Sunday establishing a new intelligence oversight body directly under the authority of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite an ongoing investigation into the alleged “systematic” theft of classified intelligence documents from IDF databases and the transfer of those files to people in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The bill seeks to create a so-called Ifcha Mistabra (devil’s advocate) unit reporting directly to Netanyahu that will be given the authority to demand intelligence information from “any intelligence body… or any other state institution” in Israel. This would include military intelligence, the Shin Bet, Mossad and National Security Council.
According to the bill, the new unit would be tasked with synthesizing and analyzing this information and providing the prime minister, defense minister and intelligence agencies with alternate takes on security challenges. It would also be required to report regularly to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
According to the bill’s explanatory notes, it would act as an oversight mechanism “examining in an in-depth and unbiased manner the perceptions prevalent in the intelligence and security” establishment.
Its head of the unit — which would operate largely independently and would be prohibited from employing anybody who has served in an intelligence agency within the prior two years — would be legally required to weigh in on any issue brought before the security cabinet for a decision.
In addition, he would also be required to submit such analyses to the heads of any relevant security bodies “regarding any plan or military operation” needing the security cabinet’s approval. Neither the security cabinet nor the leaders of Israel’s security agencies would be allowed to make a decision without such input.
While such a devil’s advocate unit currently exists within the IDF itself, its influence is minimal and it has failed to challenge existing modes of thought within the IDF, claims Likud MK Amit Halevi, the bill’s primary sponsor.
Speaking with The Times of Israel on Thursday evening, Halevi argued that the “fundamental” intelligence failure of October 7 came about because the IDF and other security agencies “agencies are used not to challenging themselves with a different view.”
“I mean, the intelligence forces have a few concepts, a few assumptions and nobody actually challenges them,” he said. “This team was not independent, so it couldn’t actually criticize its own commanders.”
The Ministerial Committee’s upcoming debate on whether to back the bill comes on the heels of the arrest of Eli Feldstein, a spokesperson working with the Prime Minister’s Office, who stands accused of divulging top-secret information with national security implications to European media outlets. Feldstein was reportedly employed despite having failed a Shin Bet security check.
Four others, all IDF servicemen serving in an intelligence unit tasked with preventing leaks, were also arrested as suspects in the leaks case — which Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court said had risked efforts to secure the release of the remaining 97 Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Asked why a new independent intelligence body should be established given the ongoing leak investigation, Halevi downplayed the scandal and insisted that the entire matter revolved around “an officer [who] wanted to bring information to the prime minister.”
“And inside the IDF they didn’t let him do it. So he tried to find channels and paths to the Prime Minister in order to give him this information. It’s unbelievable. It’s horrible. I mean, you need to make a decision. You’re responsible but we will not give you the information to make the right decisions,” he claimed.
According to Channel 12, the Shin Bet reportedly suspects that an “infrastructure” was put in place that was able to access “all the classified material held by IDF Military Intelligence,” and that “it extracted — and may have intended to continue to extract in the future — classified material that could expose the capabilities of the entire intelligence community” — encompassing the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad.
Netanyahu’s office this week denied a report that he was planning on firing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
