Shin Bet and Police Reportedly Plan New Election-Inquiry Meeting Over Additional Material

Shin Bet and police investigators were reportedly expected to meet again on Wednesday evening, November 11, after the security service told police it had additional material requiring examination in the foreign election-interference inquiry. The joint team includes investigators from the National Fraud Investigation Unit and Shin Bet. The planned meeting follows a police assessment that material previously supplied by Shin Bet did not establish grounds for suspicions of security offenses. Police reportedly considered that the material did not warrant investigating the Arab parties. On November 10, police sent their assessment to the State Attorney’s Office, with review by Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara expected afterward. Speaking on November 8 at the Justice Ministry’s annual training event in Eilat, Baharav-Miara said she knew of no evidentiary basis that could affect the election result. She said: “If additional, new information that has not yet been presented is brought before us, it will be examined and handled according to law.” The inquiry followed intelligence received about a day before the October 27 Knesset election concerning suspected foreign financing intended to influence the vote. Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg directed that the information be examined. Disagreement over whether the inquiry concerned a security matter led to the creation of the joint Shin Bet–police team.