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Shin Bet Chief Sought to Question Arab Politicians Over Foreign Funding

Shin Bet Director David Zini requested to question five senior Arab political party leaders under caution as part of an investigation into suspected foreign interference and bribery in Knesset elections. The targeted politicians include Joint List and Hadash chairman Yousef Jabareen, Ta'al chairman MK Ahmed Tibi, Ra'am chairman MK Mansour Abbas, Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, and outgoing Hadash chairman MK Ayman Odeh.

4 newsrooms · 2 languages · since 8 Nov, 20:06

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Shin Bet Chief Sought to Question Arab Politicians Over Foreign Funding — Illustration by baba

What happened

01Shin Bet Director David Zini requested to question five senior Arab party leaders under caution over suspected foreign election interference.
02Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara approved a criminal investigation into outgoing Hadash chairman MK Ayman Odeh.
03The Attorney General blocked investigations into Yousef Jabareen, MK Ahmed Tibi, MK Mansour Abbas, and Sami Abu Shehadeh due to insufficient evidence.
04Ayman Odeh is suspected of receiving hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash from a foreign entity.
05The Shin Bet investigation concerns suspected foreign interference and bribery in the 26th Knesset elections.
06A sharp dispute has emerged between Shin Bet Director David Zini and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over the scope of the investigations.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara approved a criminal investigation into Odeh, agreeing that there was reasonable suspicion that he received hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash from a foreign entity. However, she blocked investigations into the other four leaders, stating that the evidence presented did not meet the threshold of reasonable suspicion required to launch criminal investigations against them.

The disagreement has led to a sharp dispute between Zini and the Attorney General. The Shin Bet reportedly insists on continuing the election bribery investigations, citing intelligence that suggests widespread foreign funding of political activities in Israel aimed at influencing domestic politics.

Summarized by baba from the reports of 4 newsrooms. Updated 11:41

Latest report: Israel National News. Read Israel National News’s original