Follow-Up: Israel's Attorney General Blocks Shin Bet Bid to Question Arab Party Leaders, Citing Lack of Evidence
JERUSALEM — Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on November 4 rejected a request by the Shin Bet security service to interrogate several senior Arab party politicians "under warning" — that is, as suspects. The Attorney General said the Shin Bet had not presented her with any evidence of wrongdoing, and that in a country governed by the rule of law, neither citizens nor elected officials can be interrogated without evidence that justifies doing so.
Shin Bet chief David Zini had sought to question Mansour Abbas, leader of the Ra'am party, Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Ta'al faction, and Sami Abu Shehadeh, chairman of the Balad faction, in connection with an investigation into alleged foreign interference in the recent elections.
The same day, the Central Elections Committee confirmed the final results of the October 27 parliamentary elections and presented them to President Isaac Herzog, rejecting allegations of mass fraud. Election and security officials had already stated jointly that the results would stand even if the interference suspicions were proven.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party accused the Attorney General of attempting to conceal the truth from Israeli citizens and of obstructing the investigation into what it called the contamination of the election process by foreign actors. The Attorney General's office denied delaying the investigation, saying significant investigative steps had been approved at the Shin Bet's request and that a joint Shin Bet–police investigative team had been established to carry on the probe.
Opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot warned that the dispute is escalating into a constitutional crisis and urged officials to follow the law rather than government instructions. With Netanyahu's camp having lost its governing majority in the election and coalition consultations under way, the clash over investigative authority adds a new variable to the government-formation process.
Source: Office of the Attorney General of Israel
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：耶路撒冷（资料图，本站档案图）。 / Photo: Jerusalem (file photo, GSM archive).
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