Liberman considers polygraph probe of MKs

"The Foreign Affairs and Defense C'tee is considering all options to prevent leaks that can harm national security," spokesman says.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Liberman 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Liberman 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Subcommittee for Intelligence members may find themselves undergoing a polygraph test if committee chairman Avigdor Liberman (Likud Beytenu) has his way.
A committee spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the report, but when he was asked which subcommittee’s members Liberman wants to subject to a lie detector test, he said it was the intelligence subcommittee.
“The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is considering all of its options to prevent leaks that can harm national security,” the spokesman said, following a report by Channel 2’s Amit Segal on the possible polygraph tests.
A spokesman for Liberman declined to comment.
The intelligence subcommittee’s members include Liberman, Shas leader Arye Deri, Labor MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer , Likud Beytenu MK Tzachi Hanegbi and Yesh Atid faction chairman Ofer Shelah.
Liberman is considering polygraph tests nearly two weeks after the contents of a meeting with Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen were leaked to the press.
Soon after the leak, he sent a letter to Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee members telling them they will no longer be made privy to classified information.
“From many years of experience in the Knesset and my familiarity with those working here, and in light of what MKs said in the meeting and the twisted version [of the events] that was passed on to the media, it is obvious to me who stands behind the leak, and I find it unfortunate that he harmed the committee’s work and the Knesset’s good name,” Liberman wrote.