It is true that the Bayit Yehudi party is not seeking additional cabinet posts or funding, but party leader Naftali Bennett made his position clear to Reshet Bet Radio on Tuesday morning 16 Iyar. If Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not agree to his demands to educate the cabinet regarding security issues, his party will not back any deal with the Yisrael Beitenu party, thereby blocking the effort to increase the coalition government.

Bennett told Reshet Bet that he has been demanding this since the new Knesset was formed and now he can force PM Netanyahu’s hand.

Following the IDF counter-terrorism operation in Gaza known as Operation Protective Edge, Bennett announced the cabinet was simply incapable of properly analyzing high-level intelligence information for most ministers have simply not been trained to do so. He adds the same was true during the Second Lebanon War and other operations that followed. He feels that this level of incompetence prevents the cabinet from operating properly during a crisis situation and he is demanding proper training to better equip ministers to make responsible decisions if and when the next need arises.

Bennett envisions the appointment of a military secretary to the cabinet who will be the filter between military experts and the civilian cabinet ministers. The military secretary will also take cabinet ministers to military areas more often to permit them to become more acquainted with military operations and terminology.

Bennett insists this is long overdue and is using the Prime Minister’s deal with Avigdor Lieberman to compel his hand, warning that his party will not support Lieberman’s entry into the coalition without agreement regarding his plan for a military security for the Knesset.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)