AG rejects Likud claim she's blocking election interference probe

Likud accuses Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of blocking the investigation into suspected foreign interference in elections and demands Arab MKs be questioned. Baharav-Miara rejects the accusations and states: "Everyone who needs to be questioned will be."

A sharp confrontation erupted Tuesday evening between the Likud party and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over the investigation into suspected foreign interference in Israeli elections. Likud accused the attorney general of attempting to delay the probe and prevent the questioning of Arab party MKs and their aides, while Baharav-Miara rejected the claims and announced that significant investigative steps have already been approved.

In an official statement released by the Attorney General's Office in response to press inquiries regarding the Shin Bet and police investigation, the office said: "The claim that the State Attorney's Office is delaying investigative actions is false. To date, significant investigative steps have been approved at the request of the Shin Bet."

The attorney general further clarified that the investigation will continue through a joint team of both agencies, accompanied by the State Attorney's Office.

"In parallel, a joint investigative team of the Shin Bet and police has been established, accompanied by the State Attorney's Office, which will conduct the continuation of the investigation as quickly as possible," the statement said.

The attorney general concluded her response with a clarification: "Everyone who needs to be questioned will be questioned."

In contrast, the Likud party issued a sharp statement accusing Baharav-Miara of attempting to whitewash the affair and delay investigative actions. The party joined the demand by the Lavi organization and called for the Shin Bet to be allowed to question Arab party MKs and their aides.

"We join the demand of the Lavi organization and call on Baharav-Miara to cease her attempts to whitewash and delay the investigation of the election contamination affair by foreign elements, to stop tying the hands of the Shin Bet, and to allow the questioning of Arab party MKs and their aides," the Likud statement read.

Likud also focused on the issue of parliamentary immunity, claiming that the attorney general is extending the legal protection granted to MKs to their parliamentary aides as well, without legal authority.

"According to reports, Baharav-Miara is extending, without authority, the immunity of MKs to parliamentary aides as well. Such an extreme distortion of the law in Israel in order to thwart an investigation with such serious suspicions is inconceivable," the party claimed.

The Likud statement also referenced remarks attributed to Judge Noam Solberg regarding the severity of the suspicions of funding and influence on the elections, as well as information that party chairman Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu allegedly revealed about funding sources in the Palestinian Authority.

"Judge Solberg clearly said that the suspicions of funding and influence on the elections are serious, MK Lieberman revealed information about funding sources in the Palestinian Authority, and yet there is a blatant attempt to bury the investigation," the statement read, concluding with the words: "This cannot be allowed to happen."

Despite the sharp accusations, the Attorney General's Office statement did not detail which investigative steps have been approved to date, and did not provide an explicit response to the question of whether approval was granted to question Arab party MKs or their aides.