Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara issued a rare public statement Tuesday evening, saying no citizen or elected official will be questioned without evidence. The statement followed reports that Shin Bet chief David Zini was seeking to interrogate senior Arab politicians over suspected foreign interference in Israel's elections. She also accused the Shin Bet of slowing the investigation by withholding material it had collected.
"In a highly unusual step, and in light of erroneous reports, the Attorney General wishes to clarify that in a state of law, citizens or elected officials cannot be interrogated without evidence to justify it," the statement said.
Baharav-Miara said that any body holding evidence that justifies an interrogation must hand it over for review. "If the Shin Bet or any other body has evidence justifying an interrogation, it is invited to present it," the statement read. She added that she does not intend to shield anyone: "Anyone who needs to be interrogated will be interrogated, but people will not be interrogated without an evidentiary basis."
The statement then turned to the Shin Bet directly. "In addition, the Shin Bet has not transferred the investigation materials that were collected for two days to the special investigation team that was established on the recommendation of Justice Sohlberg, in cooperation with the police and with the accompaniment of the State Attorney's Office, and thus the handling of the matter is in fact being delayed," it said. Justice Noam Sohlberg chairs the Central Elections Committee.
The statement concluded: "The law enforcement system is operating quickly and professionally in order to get to the truth based on the material in its possession, and investigation decisions will be made accordingly."
The statement came after i24NEWS reporter Avishai Grinzaig revealed that Zini had asked to question four senior Arab political figures under caution. The four are Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas, Ta'al leader Ahmad Tibi, Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, and another senior lawmaker whose identity cannot be published. Abu Shehadeh was disqualified from running in the elections.
According to the report, Baharav-Miara asked to see the evidence before deciding whether to approve the interrogations. The Shin Bet had not yet provided it for three of the four, only for the unnamed lawmaker. Kipa reported that investigators are working on the assumption that the funds in question came from the Palestinian Authority.
The AG's office said it was responding to what it called erroneous reports by Likud and other coalition factions, which accused Baharav-Miara of trying to delay the Shin Bet's efforts to investigate the lawmakers. Likud called the i24NEWS report "an earthquake for Israeli democracy" and accused the AG of blocking the investigation.
The Central Elections Committee has said that even if the suspicions are proven, they would not affect the election results or change the distribution of Knesset seats. It added that any attempt by a foreign actor to influence the outcome would still be serious in its own right.
