Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
REUTERS
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly ended a meeting of Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday, saying someone in the forum betrayed the national trust by leaking details of its top-secret discussions on Iran.
Citing an unnamed source who had taken part in the security cabinet's first session on Tuesday, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that Israel's intelligence agencies gave the 14-member group conflicting views on Iran's nuclear program, reports Reuters.
"The security of the state and of its citizens depends on the ability to have confidential and in-depth discussions in the security cabinet ... someone severely damaged the trust that Israel's citizens put in this forum," Netanyahu told the group, according to a statement from the prime minister's office.
He mentioned no names or whether he had ordered an investigation into the leak.
"I have a responsibility toward the citizens of Israel and the security of the state, and therefore I am breaking up this meeting," Netanyahu said.
Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest-selling newspaper, had quoted an unnamed participant in the security cabinet's discussions a day earlier as saying: "We heard detailed, disturbing and very troubling information regarding the progress of Iran ' s nuclear program."
No date was announced for the group to reconvene to continue to hear an annual intelligence assessment from Israel's military and security chiefs.