Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 21, 2020

In an unprecedented move, the Knesset Intelligence Subcommittee on Thursday released the protocol for its Monday hearing about surveillance by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) of citizens infected with the coronavirus, revealing a bizarre and comical situation in which top officials of different branches of government could not decide who was allowed in the room.

While committee chairman MK Gabi Ashkenazi wanted to maximize how many experts could be in the room at once so they could hear each others views, and Health Ministry officials present approved, committee manager Shmuel Lotko vetoed the idea.

He said the Knesset director-general was only allowing 10 people in the room even for the Intelligence Subcommittee, which would mean that Deputy Attorney-General Raz Nizri and Health Ministry officials Moshe Bar Siman Tov and Sigal Sedensky might not be able to be in the room at the same time as would usually be the case.

There were five other committee members along with Ashkenazi and five core staff personnel to assist and record the proceedings.

Lotko heard Sedensky say the Knesset could make its own rules and did not need to listen to the Health Ministry because of its status as the supreme legislative arm of the country.

Ashkenazi then said he would go directly to the Knesset director-general and tell him he was given approval by Sedensky to have more people in the room.

Bar Siman Tov then said the ministry could not stand by his colleague Sedenskys approval, and they, as Health Ministry officials, could not contradict the director-general.

Multiple rounds of debate continued about who was in charge and who could be in the room together.

One substantive impact of this procedural debate in the committee, and the several pages of fighting that it produced, was that the hearing was slowed down, and everyone had to be heard later separately.

Ultimately, the committee could not reach a decision about Shin Bet surveillance before the 22nd Knesset was concluded and the 23rd sworn in, which has put committee hearings on hold.

But in the midst of these dark times, this unprecedented insider look at some unusual political antics at least provides a few light moments.

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Knesset, Health officials battle over who can be in the committee room - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Ashkenazi
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