Shin Bet opinion shown to MKs:

First report: Three Knesset members who were exposed to Shin Bet’s secret opinion said today (Tuesday) that the document states unequivocally that MK Tali גוטליב put a service agent, his children, and his family members at risk. According to those MKs, the main part of the confidential opinion gives real examples of Shin Bet employees whose names were previously exposed and whose lives were placed at significant risk.

The intelligence document also emphasizes that a tweet or post by an official Israeli figure, such as a Knesset member, is taken very seriously by the enemy and creates a real security risk on the ground.

The comments come against the backdrop of the Knesset Committee debate held earlier on Gottlieb’s request for immunity from criminal prosecution. During the hearing, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told committee members that Gottlieb’s investigation was opened following a Shin Bet request, and that the organization warned of a risk of harm to the employee and his family by terrorist organizations. She also said that “a highly classified Shin Bet opinion will be made available for your review in the office of the committee chairman (MK Ofir Katz).” In response, Deputy Minister Almog Cohen shouted at her, “Criminal,” and chaos broke out in the hearing.

“Revealing the identity of a Shin Bet officer constitutes a threat to his personal safety and that of his family,” Baharav-Miara said. “Gottlieb said yesterday in the hearing that she committed a criminal offense intentionally. The indictment concerns the exposure of the identity of a Shin Bet officer during wartime. The publication, time after time, was done intentionally and repeatedly. This is not an accidental exposure, but a deliberate exposure.”

At the start of the hearing, Gottlieb attacked Baharav-Miara: “You are persecuting us. You are behaving like a criminal organization. You have violently and heartlessly destroyed the Attorney General’s Office.” Gottlieb continued, “You acted with a clear purpose after the October 7 carnage, to paralyze the right-wing government and whitewash the Shin Bet leadership.”

At the hearing held yesterday, Baharav-Miara told committee members that “the indictment against Gottlieb was filed on the basis of professional, substantive judgment and in good faith,” and asked to reject her immunity request, since “no grounds for immunity apply to her.”

As a reminder, about three weeks ago, after Channel 13 revealed that Defense Minister Israel Katz signed the confidentiality certificate, the attorney general announced her decision to file an indictment against MK Gottlieb, for the offense of disclosure and publication of classified information in violation of the Shin Bet law, after she revealed that Shikma Bressler’s spouse works in the service. Gottlieb responded on her X account and wrote: “No one intimidates me.”

According to the indictment, filed by the Central District Prosecutor’s Office with the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court, on January 24, 2024, Gottlieb published on her account a screenshot from the “Adna Karnaval” website, showing an article stating that “Mossad chief Dadi Barnea received a message from the Americans, who intercepted conversations between Bressler’s husband from the Shin Bet and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, just days before October 7.” Alongside the screenshot, which included the full name of the Shin Bet officer, MK Gottlieb added her own caption, claiming that “my sources are ironclad.”