The Shin Bet will allow Yashar party chair Gadi Eisenkot’s private guards to carry weapons, Channel 12 reported Monday, in an apparent compromise after the security agency turned down a request to provide an official security detail for the election frontrunner.

The decision by David Zini, chief of the domestic security agency, came as concern has risen across the ideological spectrum about political violence ahead of the October 27 election.

Zini initially denied Yashar’s request to provide Eisenkot with an armed security detail, reportedly telling the former military chief to instead call an “emergency hotline” if faced with a security threat.

Eisenkot’s party had asked for guards to be provided due to what it said were increased threats against him since he became the leading candidate to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

His team has hired private bodyguards, but said these were insufficient while unarmed, and warned that Eisenkot would become increasingly exposed as the election approached, with the former IDF chief regularly attending conferences, touring the country and appearing at events whose locations and schedules were publicized in advance.

The apparent compromise to allow Eisenkot’s private guards to carry weapons followed various Hebrew media outlets reporting on Sunday that Netanyahu had intervened and told Zini to ensure........

© The Times of Israel