The prime minister denied knowing about the probe of the national security minister while the security agency first confirmed and then denied its existence.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Denials and accusations flew Monday over a reported covert Shin Bet internal security agency investigation of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for allegedly injecting right-wing extremism into the police force under his charge, with the prime minister again accusing the media of spreading fake news.
In a bombshell revelation Sunday evening, Channel 12 reported that Israel’s internal security agency has been secretly probing for months police officials for what is known as “Kahanism”, named for its primary idealogue, Rabbi Meir Kahane, whom Ben-Gvir followed in his earlier years.
Reporter Amit Segal displayed a secret report that Shabak head Ronen Bar allegedly wrote to Netanyahu in September saying that the Shabak has “marked the spread of ‘Kahanism’ in the law enforcement institutions as a dangerous phenomenon whose prevention is within the purview of the Shabak.”
Bar added that the organization would “continue collecting evidence and testimonies regarding the meddling of the political echelon in the activities of the security echelon in an illegal manner” and would “bring the findings” when this is done.
The basis for Bar’s charge were allegedly illegal instructions Ben-Gvir had given to police officers in the summer about allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av, the date commemorating the destruction of both Jewish Temples over 2,000 years ago.
The Supreme Court has often upheld Jews’ right to practice their religion on the holiest site in Judaism but said that security considerations could override this right, and the fear of Muslim riots over such prayer had led the police to ban the practice outright for decades.
This stance was softened several years ago as right-wing ministers allowed quiet prayer in practice, which Segal referred to in his report.
Although it was found that Ben-Gvir’s “instructions had not deviated from accepted policies of previous ministers,” he said, by the end of the month, Bar had ordered his staff to investigate the suspicion that Ben-Gvir was “undermin[ing] rule of law and the democratic regime.”
The Shabak first essentially confirmed the report, saying in a statement that movements founded on the basis of Kahane’s teachings were declared “terrorist organizations” in 2016 and the Shabak acts to thwart their activities.
“Subsequently, and as information on the subject is received, the service also addresses concerns about the infiltration of these elements into government institutions, and in particular into law enforcement institutions,” it said.
The security agency later denied that such a probe had been implemented into either “the police or politicians” or that there was any ongoing one, and that Bar had confirmed this to Police Chief Daniel Levy.
However, “sources familiar with the details” told Maariv that the investigation had “happened several months ago” and was no longer active.
Adding another layer of confusion, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) denied that Netanyahu knew about the investigation or that he had acquiesced to one, saying in a statement, “The Prime Minister was never informed by the head of the Shin Bet chief that he intended to collect evidence on the political echelon behind his back, and did not give permission for this.”
“On the contrary” the PMO continued, “in a working meeting on June 19, 2024, when the head of the Shin Bet raised a claim about Kahanist elements entering the police, the Prime Minister unequivocally instructed the head of the Shin Bet to present him with support for this claim, to raise it directly and immediately with the Minister of National Security, and in no way to act behind the minister’s back.
“The head of the Shin Bet made a commitment to the Prime Minister to do this, but did not fulfill his commitment,” the statement concluded.
Ben-Gvir’s office put out a statement calling the news of the investigation “an earthquake” that should clarify why Bar should be fired immediately, as Netanyahu announced last week that he wants to do because there is “no trust” between the two anymore.
“The head of a clandestine organization that initiates investigations and collects materials against elected officials, defining in advance the goal ‘to collect evidence and testimony of the involvement of the political echelon’ is an immediate danger to democracy, who must immediately flee from any position,” it said.
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