PM convenes security cabinet amid Syria concerns

After requesting ministers not to discuss Syria without permission, PM conducts first talks over Syria with new cabinet.

By HERB KEINON
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet Sunday for an in-depth discussion of the situation in Syria.
The meeting was believed to be the first in-depth discussion on the matter by the new security cabinet since the new government was formed in mid-March, and reportedly dealt with different scenarios the country had to prepare for. The meeting came following a determination by military intelligence, later corroborated by the US, that Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against his opponents.
The security cabinet is made up of Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Finance Minister Yair Lapid Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett and Communications and Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan.
Before the meeting the Prime Minister asked his ministers not to discuss the situation in Syria without coordinating first with his office. A day earlier government officials stressed that, following the US admission that Assad had in fact used chemical weapons, Israel was not calling on the US to take any particular course of action.
Nevertheless, Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz told reporters before Sunday's cabinet meeting that it was incumbent upon the US and the international community to take action to halt the carnage in Syria.