Knesset Constitution Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party) will host on Sunday (April 27) an oversight meeting with top officials from Israel’s law enforcement agencies, following the recent arrest of a high-ranking Shin Bet official for allegedly leaking documents to the press.
Rothman announced the meeting, titled “Concerns Regarding the Selective Enforcement against Leaks, Harm to Press Freedom, and to the Right to Consult with a Lawyer, by Investigative Authorities and the Shin Bet,” on April 15, and it was initially scheduled for April 20. However, Rothman agreed to a delay request on April 18 by a number of officials invited to the meeting, and postponed it by a week.
The officials in question, including the Attorney-General, State Attorney, Shin Bet head, and head of the Israel Police Investigations and Intelligence Department, requested a 10-day postponement, but received seven days. In their letter, the officials requested that while they intended to address all of the matters listed in the invitation, they still receive an “organized agenda” for the meeting that “clarifies the questions and topics that are up for discussion, and limits the discussion to subjects of principle.”
The officials wrote that this will “reduce the existing concern, even if only in appearance, regarding the possible influence of the discussion scheduled amidst an ongoing investigation, and reportedly in connection to it, on ongoing investigations or on the decision-makers involved.”
Rothman responded with a document with 43 questions, that included sections titled “Selective Enforcement against Leaks”, “Harm to Press Freedom”, and “Harm to Consult with a Lawyer”. Rothman ignored the officials’ request to remain focused on principle and not on specific cases, and the fourth section and final section, which included 13 questions, dealt with the specific investigation into the Shin Bet official suspected of leaking documents.
Israel Police chief initially refused to attend the meeting
Israel Police Chief Danny Levy initially refused to attend the meeting, and wrote addressed to Rothman that the issues at hand were dealt with by the Shin Bet and the Police Investigations Department (a unit within the State Attorney’s Office), and not by the Israel Police. Rothman claimed that he had never received the letter, which was published by Army Radio reporter Yuval Segev, and demanded that Levy attend the meeting. The fact that the head of the Police Investigations and Intelligence Department joined the April 18 letter requesting the delay indicated that Levy had backtracked and would cooperate, according to a spokesperson for Rothman.
