Eisenkot Urges Netanyahu to Restrict Security Deployments

Gadi Eisenkot urged caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restrict security-force deployments to situations involving a direct and immediate threat as Eisenkot negotiates to form Israel’s next government. In a letter to Netanyahu, Eisenkot warned that using security forces when an immediate response was not necessary could harm democratic institutions and public confidence. The warning was Eisenkot’s assessment, not an independently established account of security decisions.

Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, said Netanyahu’s caretaker government no longer had the Knesset’s confidence. The recommendation tally that led President Isaac Herzog to assign Eisenkot the government-forming task on November 8 was not a confidence vote on the sitting government. Factions representing 67 lawmakers recommended Eisenkot, 46 recommended Netanyahu, and factions representing seven made no recommendation.

Netanyahu’s office rejected Eisenkot’s intervention, calling the public letter irresponsible and saying it politicized sensitive security matters. The office said Netanyahu made decisions solely for security reasons and in coordination with the security establishment. It also urged...