Netanyahu Associates Implicated in Arrest of Arab Party Activists

An investigative report by Channel 12 has revealed suspicions of involvement by individuals close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the arrest of Ra'am party activists on election day. The report details how intelligence information, allegedly provided by a former Prime Minister's Office employee, was fed into police systems the evening before the elections and subsequently used as the basis for arrests that generated significant political attention.

The chain of events began the night before the elections when Ido Norden, head of staff in Netanyahu's office, contacted the Police Commissioner's office with a complaint regarding Ra'am activists in the south. According to the investigation, Norden directed the police to an intelligence source who purportedly held relevant information. Later that evening, a police intelligence coordinator contacted this source, described as a former PMO employee and an associate of Yossi Shai, the former Director-General of the PMO. This individual allegedly provided incriminating information about three Ra'am activists. The information was entered into police intelligence systems that same night, leading to the arrest operation the following day, election day.

The report further states that the information provided was later found to be baseless. An investigation is now examining the suspicion that this information was deliberately entered into police systems to bolster the complaint from the Prime Minister's office and facilitate arrests at a politically sensitive time. The operation involved 14 officers raiding the homes of three Ra'am activists in the south without search or arrest warrants at the time of their detention. Following the arrests, the police publicized suspicions concerning Ra'am funds and ballots allegedly intended to incentivize voters, which the investigation suggests were later found to be exaggerated.

An inquiry is underway at the office of the Legal Advisor to the Government, Gali Baharav-Miara, and within the police's investigations department. These initial stages are examining the suspicion of planted information and its connection to a planned political maneuver, though no conclusion has been reached. Separately, it was reported that Shin Bet chief (name not provided in article) presented intelligence material to Gadi Eisenkot, Minister of Defense, two days after the election, claiming the Shin Bet had known for years about suspicions of election manipulation in Arab towns. "There have been reports since 2018 that Arabs are stealing elections in Israel. All the Shin Bet chiefs ignored it. I came and lifted this stone," the Shin Bet chief told Eisenkot.

The Shin Bet responded by stating that, in accordance with its legal mandate and the directive of the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Justice Solberg, it investigated serious suspicions of subversion and foreign influence related to elections. The Shin Bet asserted that any publications regarding investigation targets or methods are not from the Shin Bet and should be treated as such.