Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett demanded Wednesday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convene the Diplomacy and Security Cabinet, often referred to in short as the Security Cabinet, a select inner circle of ministers entrusted with key decisions on security and international relations.
Bennett said that the fact that the Security Cabinet has not met is a “very grave” matter and added that he addressed “a very clear” request to Natanyahu in recent days, to urgently convene the forum. “There are many matters on the agenda,” he noted,
Pundits critical of Netanyahu predicted before the election that Netanyahu would not convene the Security Cabinet often in the new government, because his wife, Sara, reportedly despises Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, and does not want her to have too much prestige or influence on key policy matters.
From 2006 to 2008, Shaked was office director for then-Opposition leader Netanyahu, working with Bennett, who served as Netanyahu’s Chief of Staff. The two left Netanyahu’s office together, and there have been persistent reports since then of very bad blood between them and Sara Netanyahu. Bennett once confirmed these rumors by joking that he had undergone a “terror course” under Sara Netanyahu.
As can be seen in the first video below, Netanyahu avoided shaking hands with Shaked when he and Bennett announced they had signed a coalition agreement, on May 6. Shaked can be seen preparing to get up and shake his hand, but Netanyahu leaves her high and dry.
In the second video, Netanyahu avoids eye contact with Bennett after his swearing in at the Knesset, and avoids Shaked as well.