Knesset members met secretly with Palestinian Authority intelligence

Such a meeting could be considered contact with a foreign agent, punishable by 15 years in prison according to the Penal Code.

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

Several Israeli politicians and activists have called on the security establishment to launch a probe against three Arab Members of Knesset (MK) who recently met secretly with the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) intelligence, reportedly to discuss Israel’s upcoming elections.

According to a Channel 12 report Friday night, MKs Ayman Odeh, Ahmed Tibi and Sami Abu Shahadeh, the heads of the Arab-majority Joint List faction, recently met secretly in Ramallah with the head of PA intelligence in an attempt to influence the results of the Israeli elections.

In favor of the bloc led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Ganz, the PA is reportedly pushing to have the Islamic Ra’am party rejoin the Joint List to prevent opposition leader and former prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from winning the upcoming November election.

Such a meeting could be considered contact with a foreign agent, punishable by 15 years in prison according to the Penal Code.

Responding to the reports, Netanyahu’s Likud party stated that the elections in November are “between an Israeli-Palestinian government of Gantz and Lapid and a stable and strong national government led by the Likud.”

“The publication of the possible intervention of the Palestinian Authority in the elections in Israel to prevent former Prime Minister Netanyahu from being elected is a political terror attack with criminal aspects. The Likud intends to contact the Shin Bet and the Israel Police and demand from them a comprehensive investigation into this serious development and those involved in it,” the Likud stated Saturday night.

MK Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism party, stated that the Arabs MKs “support terrorism, visit terrorists [in prison], conspire against the Israeli democracy and receive a salary from each and every one of us. Odeh, Tibi and Abu Shahada have no place in the Israeli Knesset.”

“The choice [in the elections] is simple – a national government or a government with those allied with Israel’s enemies,” he said.

Matan Peleg, chairman of the Im Tirzu Zionist movement, called on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to open a criminal investigation against the three for breach of trust and conspiracy against the State of Israel.

“It is not possible for Israel to move on without action when elected officials from within have teamed up with foreign elements, perpetrators of terrorism, in order to influence its elections,” the organization said.

MK Avi Maoz said that “in a proper country, the Knesset members of the Joint List would be arrested and interrogated by the Shin Bet for their meeting with the head of Palestinian intelligence. This proves once again that Israel’s enemies know which government will fight them and which government will give them gifts.”

He sent a letter to Shin Bet head Ronen Bar requesting he launch a comprehensive investigation into the “improper interference in the election system in the State of Israel.”

“Beyond making contact with a hostile party, this is an attempt to interfere illegally in the Israeli election system, and therefore I call for an urgent investigation and drawing of conclusions,” he demanded.

2022 electionsArab Joint ListBenjamin NetanyahuBenny GantzIsraeli electionIsraeli electionsYair Lapid