Yet another Shin Bet affair was revealed on Tuesday morning when an Israeli court lifted the gag order on the case, which began when the Shin Bet leadership and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara threw a senior Shin Bet agent into jail without access to a lawyer for exposing information that embarrassed them.

Several weeks ago, Israeli media outlets reported that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar had launched a probe into the infiltration of Kahanism into the Israel Police against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and senior police officials. According to leaked documents, Bar launched the probe even after he was told by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Attorney General Gali Barahav-Miara that there was no legal basis for the investigation. Bar denied launching the probe when confronted by Ben-Gvir, but was then publicly humiliated when Ben-Gvir presented him with an internal Shin Bet document proving that Bar launched the investigation.

A Shin Bet official is now being investigated for “harming state security” for leaking classified information about the probe to Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli and Channel 12 News reporter Amit Segal. He also revealed information about the internal Shin Bet report regarding its failures on October 7 that was hidden from the public to Yisrael Hayom reporter Shirat Avitan.

The suspect, who has served in the Shin Bet for decades and returned to service following the October 7 massacre, was thrown into prison without access to a lawyer for eight days.

Segal responded to the exposure of the affair by slamming Bar and Baharav-Miara, explaining: “The story is ultimately very simple. Ronen Bar told the Attorney General a chilling story about the Kahanist takeover of the police as it was expressed on Tisha B’Av on Har Habayit. The Attorney General rushed to investigate, and then, much to her embarrassment, it became clear from Bar’s subordinates that it never happened.”

“Bar, in an attempt to restore his standing with her and his people, opened a secret and unprecedented investigation of the police, on suspicion of ‘the spread of Kahanism on the police’ and ordered ‘to bring some findings.’ This investigation also ended with nothing. This did not bother the Attorney General, and she included the false classified information as part of her justifications [for freezing Bar’s dismissal] to the Supreme Court without disclosing that, in professional slang, it was nonsense.”

“I exposed this story and it embarrassed them very much. So far, a total failure. But Bar and Baharav-Miara have tools to hunt down whoever exposed their nakedness and so they threw him into custody without a lawyer. Why? For obstructing a probe? How can you obstruct an investigation that ended in nothing? Will it expose Shin Bet sources? When there are no sources, it is difficult to locate them.”

“In a climate where people care, even reluctantly, about appearances and freedom of the press, you don’t conduct a hunt for sources for personal reasons. A serious organization would be busy with a deep internal investigation into what caused it to dive headfirst into a sham investigation, not double down on it.”

The suspect’s lawyers stated: “Our client, who served in the Shin Bet for decades with great dedication and professionalism, passed on information of enormous public importance in order to bring it to the public’s attention, while taking care not to pass on security information. The information that our client passed on was also not supposed to be classified, and it is undisputed that our client did not pass on information that could endanger the public.”

The lawyers said that the suspect did reveal information to Minister Amichai Chikli and journalist Amit Segal about the investigation process that the heads of the Shin Bet system asked to conduct “regarding political figures and those around them.”

“Additionally, our client revealed information from the Shin Bet’s full investigation into October 7, information that contrary to the report that was published – and pointed mainly to the political echelon on certain issues – presented a more complex picture regarding the conduct and position of the Shin Bet on the eve of October 7th. Our client shared this information of enormous public importance to journalist Shirit Avitan, and it is undisputed that it did not endanger state security.”

“Following the transfer of the aforementioned information, draconian tools were used against our client,” his lawyers said, laborating that he was arrested shortly before Pesach and was prevented from meeting a lawyer.

The lawyers added: “Contrary to the impression arising from the prosecution’s statement, the order preventing a meeting with a lawyer was only removed after an appeal was filed to the District Court, in a decision by the President of the Court,  and with the staunch opposition of the law enforcement authorities, the Police Invesitgations Department and the Shin Bet.”

“It seems that the decision of the heads of the systems is subject to a conflict of interest that affected the way the investigation against our client was and is being conducted. Our client, a family man, a model citizen, who contributed decades to the security of the state, is still detained, and an appeal was filed last night that is expected to be heard before the District Court as soon as possible.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)