PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman
Photo: EPA
Security Cabinet now authorized to declare war
Security Cabinet accepts revision to law passed last month allowing the PM and def. min. to declare war alone, now empowering the Cabinet only with authority to do so.
The Security Cabinet approved Wednesday a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, which will authorize the Cabinet to declare war, rather than the prime minister and defense minister.
The approval marks a heel turn from a decision made last month, when the Knesset passed a law that transferred authority from the government to the Security Cabinet—and in some case to the prime minister and defense minister only—to declare war and to launch military operations.
PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Photo: EPA)
The law constituted an amendment to the country's Basic Law: The Government, and requires the prime minister to declare war by obtaining the approval of the cabinet only rather than the government as a whole, including in the absence of some members.
The cabinet's decision was made at one of their weekly meeting, which started this week to take place at a secure underground bunker in Jerusalem.
The facility, known as the “National Management Centre”, was first used by the Security Cabinet in 2011 to rehearse a national crisis scenario. It was carved out beneath the government complex in Jerusalem and includes living quarters as well as command facilities.
Ayelet Shaked (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)
Reports of the move come amid a rise in tensions with Iran.
Israel this month accused Iran of firing rockets from Syria into the Israeli Golan Heights. Israel struck back with its heaviest air strikes in Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
