Attorney General says no evidence foreign interference could alter Israel's election

Israel's Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, said on Sunday that she knows of no evidentiary basis suggesting that suspected foreign interference could have changed the result of the country's October 27 election. Haaretz reported that her remarks came amid a public dispute with David Zini, head of the Shin Bet security service, over the investigation into suspected attempts to sway the vote.

She spoke at the annual training conference of the Justice Ministry in Eilat, according to N12. In wording circulated by the commentator Amit Segal, she said she was unaware of any basis that came even close to affecting the outcome, or to supporting a claim of influence capable of changing it. She added that if new information not previously presented were brought to her office, it would be examined and handled according to the law. Ynet described the speech as coming days after a sharp confrontation between her and the Shin Bet chief over the probe.

What she said about who gets investigated

Beyond the question of the election result, Baharav-Miara defended the way her office decides whether to open criminal investigations. N12 reported that she said that where an evidentiary basis exists, those who need to be investigated will be. In her words, it is "not a matter of right or left" and "not a matter of Jew or Arab." She described the decision to investigate a person as a professional, substantive and equal one, and said this had always been the case and would remain so.

The remarks appeared aimed at the political dimension of the dispute, though none of the reports spells out precisely which criticism she was responding to.

The roles of the Attorney General and the Shin Bet

Israel's Attorney General, known in Hebrew by the abbreviation Yoamash, is the government's chief legal adviser and also sits at the top of the state's prosecution system. The post is filled by a career lawyer rather than an elected politician, and the holder's legal opinions are generally binding on government ministries. Decisions on whether to open sensitive criminal investigations, particularly those touching on public figures, pass through the office.

The Shin Bet, formally the Israel Security Agency, is the country's domestic security and counter-intelligence service. Its remit includes protecting state institutions and investigating threats from foreign actors operating inside Israel, which places suspected foreign influence over an election within its field of interest. The service reports to the prime minister.

The reports describe the matter at issue as an investigation into suspected foreign influence on the election. They do not identify which foreign party is suspected, what form the alleged influence took, or who, if anyone, is under suspicion.

A separate attack on a police oversight bill

One outlet reported a second theme in the speech. News.co.il said Baharav-Miara also criticised legislation concerning Mahash, the Police Internal Investigations Department, a unit inside the Justice Ministry that handles complaints of criminal conduct by police officers. According to that report, she called the law a poison pill that could damage the law enforcement system. No other report in the material mentions this part of her remarks, and none describes what the legislation would change.

Where the reports differ

The outlets broadly agree on the substance of her comments, but they frame them slightly differently. News.co.il summarised her as saying there is currently no evidentiary basis for an effect on the results. The fuller wording carried by Amit Segal and N12 is narrower: she said she was not aware of a basis that could affect the outcome, and left the door open to new material. Readers should treat the more cautious phrasing, attributed to her directly, as the more precise account.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports includes a response from David Zini or the Shin Bet to her remarks, and none explains what the earlier confrontation between the two concerned in detail. The reports also do not say what evidence, if any, the Shin Bet has gathered, whether it believes that evidence bears on the result, or whether any new material has been passed to the Attorney General's office since the dispute began.