Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s children are set to receive government-paid security protection for a full year after he is out of office.
However, with some media reports wrongly stating that Netanyahu’s children have protection and that incoming prime minister Naftali Bennett’s children will not have protection, it is important to clarify what is really going on.
Sources indicate that the children of a prime minister usually get protection from the special “Magen” unit of the Prime Minister’s Office, which gets directives from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency.)
The exact nature of security protection for a prime minister’s children while in office or after leaving office is set by the Ministerial Committee for the Shin Bet, according to people familiar with the matter.
Under the Netanyahu government, the policy has been that an outgoing prime minister’s children retain protection for one year, the sources said.
Because the Bennett government is not yet sworn in, it has not yet set the nature of long-term protection for his children.
However, the Shin Bet will ensure that either its staff or the Magen staff provide Bennett’s children with protection during the transitional phase until the new Ministerial Committee for the Shin Bet is constituted and decides what to do.
Some of the issues that the new committee will need to decide in that regard also relate to where the primary protection for the children will be and what kind of secondary protection will travel with them when they leave that location, the sources said.
Once the new committee is formed, it could alter or reduce the protection given to Netanyahu’s children.
Part of the confusion in some media reports appears to be missing the distinctions between the Shin Bet and Magen, as well as the division of authority between protection that the Shin Bet extends ad hoc and protection that the reigning committee directs.