Justice Minister Yariv Levin has moved to formalize the process for assigning security details to political party leaders by granting the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, the final decision-making power. This policy change was enacted unilaterally by Levin after a scheduled committee hearing failed to reach a quorum, as no other government ministers attended the session.

The move comes amid heightened public discourse regarding the safety of political figures. Specifically, the political parties led by Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Golan have recently requested state-funded security, citing an increase in threats directed at their leadership. By delegating this authority to the Shin Bet, the Justice Ministry is shifting the responsibility for threat assessment and protection eligibility away from political oversight and toward the security agency’s professional judgment.

While the decision aims to standardize the process, it has drawn attention due to the lack of ministerial participation in the legislative or administrative process that preceded it. The Shin Bet will now be the primary arbiter in determining whether the specific threats faced by opposition party leaders meet the threshold for state-provided security. This change effectively removes the potential for political influence in the approval process, though it also centralizes power within the security establishment regarding which politicians are deemed worthy of protection.