Israel's Attorney General: No Evidence to Change Election Results

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara stated on Sunday that she is unaware of any evidence that could influence or change the outcome of the recent elections. She described the initial evidence presented to her as pertaining to "isolated and limited incidents only." However, she affirmed that any new information would be thoroughly examined and addressed.

Baharav-Miara was speaking at an annual training seminar for the State Attorney's Office and the Legal Counsel and Legislation Division in Eilat. She addressed the ongoing Shin Bet investigation into foreign influence and funding in the elections, which has caused significant political stir. A special investigative team, comprising Shin Bet and Police Investigations Department personnel, has been formed to handle this matter, with the approval of the Central Elections Committee Chairman, Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg.

She emphasized that criminal offenses related to election integrity are severe and anti-democratic, and that she and State Attorney Amit Isman are united in their commitment to launching investigations whenever reasonable suspicion of a criminal offense arises. "We have already approved significant investigative actions," she said, adding that "when there is evidentiary basis, whoever needs to be investigated will be investigated. This is not a matter of right or left. This is not a matter of Jewish or Arab. The decision whether to investigate a person is a professional, objective, and equitable decision, as it was and as it will be."

The Attorney General also commented on the use of artificial intelligence in elections, calling the current election cycle the first of the AI era. She noted that election laws and propaganda regulations are lagging behind technological advancements and that the legal advisory system is reviewing necessary legislative amendments to address this. "We will learn lessons and see how to improve," she stated.

Regarding the government's judicial overhaul, referred to as the "so-called judicial reform," Baharav-Miara expressed that the process has clarified for her and her colleagues that the move was not intended to improve but to shift the principles of law enforcement from public loyalty to loyalty to the ruling power, which she called "a fatal blow to the rule of law and human rights." She credited the resilience of law enforcement's independence to the "stubborn stance" of several leaders, including State Attorney Amit Isman and Commander of the Police Investigations Department Boaz Balt.

Baharav-Miara specifically criticized two laws she believes pose a "severe, clear, and immediate threat to the ability of the law enforcement system to act with loyalty to the public": the Police Internal Investigations Department (Mahash) law and the law to weaken the Attorney General's office. She described the Mahash law as a "poison pill" that would dismantle the principles of non-partisanship and equality before the law from within. While presented as a move to ensure Mahash's independence, she argued it would subordinate the unit to the political echelon, which could appoint and easily dismiss its senior officials. She warned that this law would give the political echelon "leverage to force the opening of criminal investigations against police officers, prosecutors, legal advisors, and journalists," while simultaneously halting or thwarting investigations into government corruption or those close to the ruling power. She questioned whether, in a politically controlled Mahash, officers or prosecutors would dare to investigate powerful public officials or challenge the government's requests regarding media outlets critical of the regime. Baharav-Miara and Isman vowed to continue fighting this law, calling it "the politicization of the law enforcement system" and stating they would not allow the government "means to persecute prosecutors and the law enforcement system."