Shin Bet examines suspected Palestinian Authority funding of Arab party members

Israel's Shin Bet security agency is examining suspicions that the Palestinian Authority sent money to members of Arab political parties to influence the October 27 election, N12 reported on Monday. The inquiry into possible Palestinian Authority involvement is preliminary, and investigators have not established whether any transfer took place, the amount involved or its intended use.

That line of inquiry falls within a wider investigation into suspected foreign interference in the election. Investigators are also examining allegations involving funds from Qatar and a political figure in the Joint List, an alliance made up of Hadash, Ta'al and Balad.

In its Monday night report, N12 said investigators had traced a route by which Qatari money allegedly reached a Joint List political figure. The reported purpose of that funding was to encourage voter turnout. Earlier in the week, the Shin Bet began looking into suspicions that an unnamed serving Joint List member of the Knesset received thousands of shekels from Qatar that the party subsequently used in its election campaign.

Investigators are considering whether the alleged overseas funding supported unlawful activities connected to the election. The inquiries come as official election results are due to be delivered to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday. Consultations about forming the next government are expected to follow.

The investigation has also become the subject of a dispute involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara. Likud accused her of impeding the inquiry after Channel 13 reported on Monday that she had made questioning Joint List parliamentary aides conditional on her authorization.

According to Channel 13, the Shin Bet wanted to interview the aides over suspicions that foreign money had been passed to political figures in Arab parties to affect voter turnout. Baharav-Miara reportedly concluded that, because the suspicions concerned a Knesset member, interviews with parliamentary aides also had to follow the immunity-related procedures applicable to investigations involving lawmakers.

Under that reported decision, investigators would first need an evidentiary basis for their suspicions against the lawmaker. Baharav-Miara would then consider whether to authorize questioning of both the Knesset member and the parliamentary aides.

Likud argued that the attorney-general was treating this case differently from earlier investigations involving ministers, lawmakers and government advisers, describing her approach as "selective enforcement on steroids." The party demanded that she permit the Shin Bet to finish its work and accused her of attempting a cover-up, drawing a comparison with the investigation into the former military advocate-general.