Likud demands urgent Shin Bet briefing on foreign-funding suspicions before results

Likud's legal adviser has demanded that the Central Elections Committee not approve the election results until it hears from the head of the Shin Bet on suspected foreign interference, Maariv reported on Monday.

Attorney Ilan Bombach wrote to the committee that official results are due to be published and sent to the president on Wednesday. He asked that its presidium convene an urgent session before then, with the Shin Bet chief present.

The Hebrew-language report said the letter rests on a message from Justice Solberg, who chairs the committee. On 28 October, the day after the vote, Solberg wrote to the Shin Bet head that "serious suspicions" had been brought to him of improper influence on the election through foreign funding from outside actors "operating against Israel's interest". Because the suspicions involve foreign actors, Solberg wrote, they must be investigated properly to protect the integrity of the vote and prevent illegal activity and subversion. The words are Maariv's Hebrew, translated here.

Bombach noted that Solberg said on Sunday that serious suspicions concerning foreign funding "require examination". Solberg had also asked that findings be produced within the past week, according to the letter.

Yet the committee's announcement said the results would go to the president "as they are", Bombach wrote. It gave no date for the end of the Shin Bet inquiry, no findings so far, and no detail on the nature or scale of the suspicions. He said the public and the committee are in the dark.

"Until it is removed, the concern will not go away that the results do not reflect the free and genuine will of the voters," Bombach wrote, in Maariv's account. He warned the presidium against acting blindly. It should not behave like the Israelites at Sinai, he wrote, announcing "we will do and we will hear", and if it did, it would be neglecting its duty.

He asked that members be given the full picture: the exact suspicion, the scope, the investigative steps taken and any findings. He said the briefing could be held under strict confidentiality. The presidium includes representatives of the larger factions, who could sign secrecy undertakings, and he said he holds the highest security clearance himself.

Bombach added that a separate letter, on behalf of a considerable number of committee members, would soon ask that the information be shared with the full plenum.

The Shin Bet has not publicly commented on the inquiry in the material available. The suspicions themselves remain unproven, and it is not known who the alleged funders are or which parties, if any, were affected. The committee has not announced whether it will hold the earlier session Bombach requested.