MK Bar-Lev suspended from key committees after leak

Labor MK leaked information on defense budget from closed door meeting of Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense subcommittee.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
MK Omer Bar-Lev (Labor) will not be able to attend Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense subcommittee meetings for the next two months, because he leaked information to the press.
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Ze'ev Elkin (Likud Beytenu) suspended Bar-Lev from subcommittees, where most of the committees' activities take place, until the end of the Knesset's summer session in early August.
Last week, an IDF representative briefed the subcommittee on the defense budget and only gave planned expenses for half a year.
Bar-Lev demanded figures for a full year, and the IDF representative said he does not and does not plan to have them.
The Labor MK passed the information on to Channel 2's Amnon Abramovich, who reported it on Friday night.
Elkin's spokeswoman said that the committee chairman agrees with Bar-Lev's demand, but cannot tolerate leaks from closed subcommittee meetings.
Last year, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman closed all Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meetings to the press and canceled all briefings because he felt members were leaking too much information.