Slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto had tried to hire Israeli security personnel.
Relatives of Bhutto, who was assassinated last week in a shooting and bombing attack, had asked Israel to supply her with Shin Bet bodyguards, Ma’ariv reported Sunday.
The idea of supplying Bhutto with Israeli government agents was immediately ruled out in Jerusalem, which has no formal ties with Islamabad. But there were alternative proposals to put her in touch with private Israeli security companies or retired personnel from the Shin Bet or Mossad intelligence agencies.
“We could have been more sensitive and quicker, but we dragged our feet on this Bhutto issue, and that’s a shame,” Ma’ariv quoted an unnamed Israeli diplomatic official as saying.
Similar requests that Bhutto made to U.S. and British security agencies also went unmet.