Shin Bet chief seeks to question Arab party leaders over election probe

Israel's Shin Bet chief sought on Tuesday to question three Arab party leaders over suspected foreign interference in the election, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.

The Israeli public broadcaster KAN named the three as Mansour Abbas, leader of the United Arab List (Ra'am), Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Arab Movement for Change (Ta'al), and Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Balad party.

KAN said investigators also had information relevant to the inquiry about a fourth politician, a member of the Knesset.

KAN reported that law enforcement officials had found no evidence that would justify questioning the three leaders.

Dispute over security classification

Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara rejected a request by Shin Bet Director David Zini to treat the whole inquiry as a security case, during a Sunday meeting with Judge Noam Sohlberg, who chairs the Central Elections Committee.

The paper said that classification would have given the agency broader powers, including denying suspects access to lawyers, tapping their phones and collecting communications data.

Baharav-Miara called the request unlawful, while Sohlberg suggested the case could have a security dimension.

In a statement late Tuesday, Baharav-Miara said investigators needed evidence before questioning citizens or elected officials as suspects, and that the Shin Bet or any other agency could submit material that warranted it.

She also said the Shin Bet had held back the material it gathered from a special investigative team for two days, delaying the inquiry.

Political reaction

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party accused Baharav-Miara of obstructing the inquiry by blocking the Shin Bet from using powers available in security cases, and it called on Sohlberg to explain the matter to the public.

The Joint List said Zini had "lost his senses" and vowed to resist any effort to portray Arab voters as a security threat or their elected representatives as suspects.

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the opposition Yashar party, warned against using security agencies for political ends and accused Netanyahu and Likud of trying to undermine public confidence in the results after their bloc fell short of a majority.

Likud has accused Qatar of funding efforts to boost Arab turnout, but it has presented no public evidence of Qatari interference or widespread fraud, and Qatar rejected the accusations last Thursday as a disinformation campaign.

Results and next steps

Sohlberg said late Tuesday that Israeli law requires the final results to be published Wednesday and that no one has the authority to withhold them.

The results are due to be presented to President Isaac Herzog, who is expected to begin consultations with party representatives on Wednesday on forming a government, the Israeli daily Maariv reported.

The vote count gave Netanyahu's bloc 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset and Eisenkot's opposition bloc 48, while the two Arab lists won a combined 19 seats, and neither bloc reached the 61 needed for a majority.