JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s security cabinet discussed the possibility that chemical weapons have been used by the Syrian government in that country’s civil war.
Sunday’s meeting — the first discussion on Syria of senior government ministers since the swearing-in of the new government — also looked at formulating Israeli policy on the civil war in Syria, Haaretz reported, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly asked the government ministers not to make any public statements on Syria.
On Monday morning, a bomb attack targeted Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halki in Damascus. Halki survived the attack on his convoy, in which six people were killed. No one claimed responsibility.
Meanwhile, Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s minister of strategic and intelligence affairs and international relations, said Sunday at The Jerusalem Post conference in New York that Israel is not pressing the United States to take military action against Syria, despite Israeli intelligence that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against rebels and civilians.
