On Friday, Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had declared six organizations linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to be terror organizations. Now, leaders from two of the current government coalition parties are crying foul over not having been informed ahead of time.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz was the focus of ire on the part of Meretz and Labor party cabinet ministers today for not having informed the full cabinet of his decision to make the declaration on the organizations.
At this evening’s cabinet meeting, Labor leader Merav Michaeli and Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz both demanded of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that he ensure they never be surprised by such an announcement again in the future. Minister Gantz was not in attendance at the meeting.
The Minister for the Protection of the Environment Tamar Zandberg, also from the Meretz Party, complained that not all of the organizations are related to terrorist activities. She told Israel’s Kan Channel 11 yesterday, “Three of the organizations are well-known human rights organizations. Many times human rights, the left and opposition to the occupation are bound up as terrorism – that is not the case.”
Minister of Internal Security Amar Bar-Lev from the Labor party also told Kan 11 that he was not informed either, in spite of being responsible for national security matters, saying, “I am a member of the political-security cabinet, and it did not come up there. This raises question marks.”