Police Commander Restricts Shin Bet Access to Election Probe Information

Commander of the Police Investigations Department, Boaz Baltz, has instructed officers not to transfer any information related to the election investigation to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) without his explicit approval. This directive effectively halts the police's operational assistance to the Shin Bet in the probe, despite the police being designated as the Shin Bet's operational arm for certain investigative actions in this case.

Baltz's directive states that any Shin Bet request for assistance, such as help with camera installations or other investigative actions concerning the election case, must be routed through him and will not be acted upon until his department grants approval. He reiterated that all election-related requests must be directed to him.

The investigation reportedly centers on suspicions that foreign entities, including Qatar, Turkey, and the Palestinian Authority, transferred significant sums of money to individuals within the Joint List party to influence the elections. The Shin Bet recently began transferring materials to the police regarding ballot boxes in the Arab sector, after initially withholding information.

This handling of the case has drawn criticism, with some demanding that the entire affair and its suspects be classified under national security offenses. This classification would allow for the summoning of Arab party leaders, including Ahmad Tibi, Mansour Abbas, and Sami Abu Shehadeh, for questioning without requiring evidence. Ayman Odeh, who is expected to step down from his role soon, is also under scrutiny, with reports suggesting he may have received hundreds of thousands of shekels from the Palestinian Authority. However, the police have stated they currently have no intention of summoning Odeh for questioning as no intelligence linking him to the matter has been transferred yet, and the Attorney General has not yet approved such an investigation.