After the recent incident in which a soldier assigned to protect IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gabi Ashkenazi’s office was apprehended after he stole his credit card, security for the military commander was sharply increased, officials reported.

 Now we learn that a 36-year-old Ramat Gan man succeeded in getting into the chief’s office in the Defense Ministry, not once, but twice in the past month, using his IDF reserve duty card to enter the complex, and according to him, from there making his way to the commander’s office was not difficult.

When security saw the man in civilian clothes walking around on Thursday, they stopped him and demanded to see his entry pass, which he did not have. They questioned him and learned this was his second visit in about a month.

The man was turned over to Israel Police, but remained silent during questioning. His attorney explained that the suspect, his client, has a master’s degree in finance and since he has been unemployed in recent months, he was seeking employment in the Defense Ministry.

Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court Justice Daniela Shirizli waved the need for a psychiatric exam for the suspect, who she released on bail, with restrictions, including a two-month ban from coming within a half kilometer of the Kirya (Defense Ministry) complex on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street.

Military officials deny the accuracy of the report, insisting the man never entered the ministry, never making it anywhere near to Ashkenazi’s office, insisting the second level of entrance security determined he did not have a security pass and they detained him and turned him over to police.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)