Shin Bet questioned Joint List activists about rival Ra'am, Channel 12 says

Israel's domestic security service, the Shin Bet, has over the past few days summoned a number of Joint List activists for interrogation and urged them to hand over information about Ra'am, a rival Arab party, according to a report by the Hebrew-language broadcaster Channel 12. The network based its account on several activists who say they were interrogated as part of an inquiry linked to the election.

The activists told the channel that investigators steered the sessions toward Ra'am, and one said he understood the questioning as an effort to turn him into an informant against that party. The Times of Israel, relaying the Channel 12 report, said the Shin Bet responded that it was acting "in accordance with its legal authority" in a probe into suspected "subversion and foreign influence" connected to the vote.

What the activists described

According to the account carried by The Times of Israel, one activist said a Shin Bet investigator drew attention to religious differences between them while urging him to cooperate. The investigator, as the activist recounted it, pointed out that the activist is Christian, described Ra'am's members as Islamists, and asked him to provide something against them. The activist said he replied that he had no link to Ra'am and could not see why he had been called in.

The reporter behind the story, Mohammed Majadleh, wrote in a post on N12's news channel that the item was first broadcast on the network's weekend news programme. In his summary, the Shin Bet tried to recruit Joint List activists against Ra'am after they had been summoned over suspicions of interference in the election. He added that the activists argued the questioning was political in nature and did not concentrate on the affair it was supposed to be about.

Who the Shin Bet are

The Shin Bet, formally the Israel Security Agency, is the country's internal security and counterintelligence service. It operates under the prime minister's office and is responsible for countering threats inside Israel, including espionage and attempts at subversion. Its interrogations are generally conducted out of public view, and it rarely comments in detail on open investigations, which is consistent with the brief response it gave in this case.

The Shin Bet's own statement frames this inquiry around subversion and foreign influence, categories that fall within its security remit.

The Joint List and Ra'am

The Joint List is a political alliance of parties drawing support mainly from Israel's Arab citizens. Ra'am, known in English as the United Arab List, is an Islamist party that has competed with the Joint List for the same electorate. The two have taken different approaches to Israeli politics, and their rivalry is a recurring feature of Arab politics in Israel.

That rivalry is the backdrop to the activists' complaint. Their account suggests that investigators sought to use divisions within the Arab political community, including religious ones, to gather information on one party through members of another. The Shin Bet has not addressed that claim directly in anything reported so far.

How the sources frame the probe

The reports describe the underlying investigation in slightly different terms. The Times of Israel characterised it as an election fraud probe. Majadleh's post refers to suspicions of tilting or skewing the election. The Shin Bet's own wording, as relayed by The Times of Israel, speaks of subversion and foreign influence relating to the election. These descriptions are not necessarily in conflict, but none of the reports sets out exactly what conduct is suspected or by whom.

The Times of Israel also noted that the Shin Bet said it was naturally unable at this stage to comment further; the remainder of that statement is not included in the material available.

What the reports do not say

• How many activists were questioned, and whether any were detained, warned or named as suspects.
• What specific act of election interference or foreign influence the Shin Bet is investigating.
• Whether Ra'am or the Joint List leadership has responded to the report.
• The full text of the Shin Bet's statement beyond the portions quoted.
• Whether the activists' account has been confirmed by anyone other than the activists themselves.