The Shin Bet team guarding Netanyahu

When Benjamin Netanyahu travels abroad a 500-strong security detail from the Shin Bet intelligence arm go with him.

Benjamin Netanyahu is surrounded by his security detail as he talks to the media after arriving with his wife Sara (L) at Sydney airport. Picture: AFP.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Malcolm Turnbull took a stroll along the water to Admiralty House today, it wasn’t the two leaders who caught our eyes — but the dozens of security guards swarming around them.

Earlier, the guards formed a solid, grim-faced bank around Mr Netanyahu as he spoke to the media after touching down at Sydney Airport.

Benjamin Netanyahu, centre left, and Malcolm Turnbull, surrounded by Mr Netanyahu’s security detail. Picture: Reuters

The 500-strong detail rivals that of the US President and it accompanies Mr Netanyahu everywhere. And by everywhere, we mean even to restaurant bathrooms. When Mr Netanyahu visited Cipriani restaurant for a “private” dinner in New York last year, the 100-seater restaurant had to fit at least 20 of his entourage at neighbouring tables while others took up guard both inside and outside the venue. And when the Prime Minister needed a bathroom break, 20 security guards went with him.

“One watched the door, and the rest lined up with their arms up to form a human barricade, so nobody could enter the bathroom or even get close,” an observer told The New York Post at the time.

On Mr Netanyahu’s historic four-day long visit to Australia, major deals involving cybersecurity and technology are likely to be signed. He also held formal talks with Mr Turnbull today.

And everywhere he goes in Australia, his guards will go with him.

The men are recruited from Shin Bet, the country’s feared internal intelligence agency and one of three arms of Israeli Intelligence. The other two arms are Mossad, responsible for intelligence abroad (like the CIA and Britain’s MI6) and the lesser known Military Intelligence, known as Amman.

Shin Bet, whose current head is Nadav Argaman, is a highly trained and highly respected organisation responsible for counter-espionage and counter-terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Its reputation within Israel is as great as Mossad’s is outside Israel’s borders and one of its greatest responsibilities is keeping the Prime Minister safe.

While in Israel, Mr Netanyahu is guarded by a mere 100 agents but when he travels, 500 accompany him, according to Colonel Beni Tal, a former member of the security detail protecting past leaders including the late President Shimon Peres.

Members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s security details outside Admiralty House in Kirribilli today. Picture: Toby Zerna.

Mr Netanyahu’s entourage is so large that it causes as much upheaval when he travels as does a visit from a US President. A trip to Kenya last year caused such large traffic jams that the Prime Minister went on television to apologise.

According to Colonel Tal’s company website, the security detail “is composed of people possessing a diverse set of physical attributes, as well as different age categories and obviously include both genders. Such criteria are of utmost importance in order for the security team to avoid possible detection.”

Colonel Tal describes how the detail is divided into three separate circles. The first is the visible security team surrounding Mr Netanyahu. This circle uses “only the best security guards available. No room for compromise here.”

The second circle comprises both visible and unseen guards who scan the surroundings for potential threats.

The third circle comprises police and “additional local and national defence forces”, as well as members of Shin Bet’s “invisible executive protection unit.”

Ten to 20 hours ahead of the PM’s arrival at any scheduled event, his detail scan the entire area, search it with dogs trained in detecting explosives and scope out sniper posts.

“Highly trained and qualified security guards are supposed to take every possible variable into account,” writes Colonel Tal.

Over the next four days, we can expect to see a lot more of the Shin Bet detail; probably more of them than we will of the Israeli PM himself.