Tally Gotliv jeopardized Shin Bet agent’s safety, AG tells Knesset panel

The A-G presented the agency’s stance in a debate that took place after Gotliv was indicted for disclosing and publishing classified confidential information in violation of the Shin Bet law.

Gotliv spoke for over five hours on the second day of discussions, following a previous day that focused on her claims from the morning into the afternoon. A final vote on whether to issue immunity for Gotliv was postponed to next week on Monday.

The indictment against Gotliv was filed by Baharav-Miara in May for publishing the identity of the partner of protest leader Shikma Bressler, who, according to the indictment, was a Shin Bet employee.

Under the Knesset Members’ Immunity Law, Gotliv was able to request that the Knesset grant her immunity from criminal prosecution before the case proceeded to court.

Baharav-Miara presented the committee members with a top-secret document containing a professional opinion issued by the Shin Bet.

The main part of the classified opinion detailed real examples of Shin Bet employees whose names were exposed, putting their lives at real and immediate risk, the report added.

Goltiv’s argument to the panel centered around the claim that sharing the identity was warranted.

She told the panel that she did the act knowingly, arguing that it was justified and that she should receive immunity as an MK. She also focused for hours on renewing claims that treason had taken place during the October 7 attacks and presented various theories on the matter.

Her remarks also involved a lengthy personal attack against Baharav-Miara, who had filed the indictment and attended both discussions on the matter.

“You’re chasing after us. You are persecuting us – the right-wing government,” Gotliv said directly to Baharav-Miara.

Slamming her further, Gotliv accused the A-G of “behaving like a criminal organization.

“And what you are doing to me will be done to other MKs, unless they are puppets,” Gotliv said.

“I stand by my clear immunity. The indictment was filed against me in bad faith. But I have substantive immunity,” Gotliv told the panel.

After Gotliv’s lengthy remarks, Baharav-Miara was allotted time to present her stance, in which she said that “according to the Shin Bet, a risk was created as a result of the exposure of the details of a Shin Bet agent during wartime.”

She also noted that granting immunity to Gotliv would undermine the protection of Shin Bet employees.

“Accepting MK Gotliv’s request would harm the principle of equality before the law,” and she called on the committee to reject Gotliv’s immunity request.

Baharav-Miara noted that Gotliv’s actions were not a single publication or a spontaneous statement made in a momentary deviation.

“The MK repeatedly published it deliberately, justified it, and repeated it. This is not a one-time event but repeated conduct. The MK had other means available to her, for example, initiating a discussion in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” she said.

Gotliv repeatedly clashed with her and opposition lawmakers during the discussion.

Opposition coordinator Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari told the panel that “in all the hours Gotliv spoke, she did not once address the offense she is here for today.

“Not only did she take no responsibility, but she amplified the offense she committed. She provided no testimony or shred of evidence to support her claims,” she added.

Committee chairman Ofir Katz then halted the discussion as Ben-Ari and Gotliv clashed, and it went to recess.

Katz also criticized the attorney-general during the discussion, despite his role as committee chairperson. Opposition lawmakers repeatedly spoke against Katz’s conduct during the debate. They objected to the fact that he continuously kicked out MKs for interrupting Gotliv, while he allowed Gotliv to interrupt the A-G as she presented her stance to the panel.

MKs were also required to abide by special attendance requirements in the panel to be allowed to partake in the final vote on granting Gotliv immunity.

Lawmakers were not permitted to make interruptions, or they would have been removed from the panel, and the rules stipulated that only MKs who participated in all meetings on the matter would be eligible to vote. Attendance for at least half the duration of a meeting would be considered participation.

Other coalition MKs criticized the attorney-general as well during the discussion. At one point, haredi (ultra-Orthodox) MKs arrived at the panel to launch a personal attack on Baharav-Miara, saying she was persecuting haredim and the Torah.

Though Baharav-Miara had sat through hours of Gotliv’s remarks, making little interruptions, the outburst from the haredi MKs caused her to walk out of the discussion.

Gotliv and numerous other lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have repeatedly clashed with Baharav-Miara for years. The government voted to fire the A-G last year amid the rift, but the High Court struck down the decision.

The debate over Gotliv’s immunity began on Monday, despite the renewed conflict with Iran, which began the evening before and continued throughout the day.

This led to sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers over focusing on the contentious matter while the country remained under threat from Iranian missiles, and as all schools were closed nationwide.

“It’s a blessed day,” Gotliv told the panel in her opening remarks, over having the ability to request immunity in the Knesset.

In Gotliv’s lengthy remarks spanning over multiple hours, she also screened a video to the panel with clips that she presented as “evidence of betrayal” during the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023. She made accusations of treason that she claimed took place during the attacks, presenting various theories to the panel and sparking outrage from opposition MKs.

Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak said, “An insane event is currently taking place in the Knesset House Committee, in which a deranged MK is spreading wild conspiracy theories and accusing the IDF and the Shin Bet of treason.”

The charge listed in the indictment against Gotliv is revealing and publishing confidential information under the Shin Bet law.

“Why are you indicting me? Because you do not know what to do with me. I acted under the authority of my immunity. I exposed [anti-judicial reform activist Shikma] Bressler’s partner,” Gotliv told the panel.

Ahead of the Knesset debate on Monday, Baharav-Miara penned a letter to members of the panel, requesting that Gotliv’s immunity be denied.

She explained that the indictment against Gotliv was filed on the basis of “professional, objective, and good-faith discretion,” and that none of the grounds for parliamentary immunity applied in her case.

The indictment against Gotliv was filed in May, based on her publishing on January 24, 2024, a screenshot from the website Edna Karnaval that included the full name of Bressler’s partner and claims tying him to alleged contacts with then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar before the October 7 massacre.

Karnaval is described by the indictment as having a “critical and blunt” style, especially toward public officials.

The screenshot, according to the indictment, included a headline alleging that Mossad chief David Barnea had received information from the US that they had intercepted calls between Bressler’s partner and Sinwar four days before October 7. The article further claimed that Barnea had summoned Bressler to a meeting, and that the Prime Minister’s Office had later issued a denial of Gotliv’s earlier statements.

The indictment said that the post received in excess of 400,000 views, 1,000 comments, 1,000 likes, and 500 shares. It said that Gotliv’s X/Twitter account had over 65,000 followers at the start of the relevant period, and over 90,000 by the time the indictment was filed.

Prosecutors alleged that Gotliv revealed and published the name of the Shin Bet employee and his relationship with Bressler “knowingly, deliberately, continuously, demonstratively, and repeatedly.”

The indictment said that the post remained available online from the time of publication until the indictment was filed, and that Gotliv did not remove it from her account.

The indictment further said that Gotliv stood by the publication, repeatedly published similar statements in which she again identified Bressler’s partner as a Shin Bet employee, and publicly stated that she had no intention of removing, or apologizing for, what she had written.

The Mossad denied the claim at the time, calling it a “recycled falsehood” and saying Barnea had “never met, spoken to, or invited Shikma Bressler to a meeting.”

Earlier in May, Defense Minister Israel Katz signed a certificate of confidentiality ahead of the indictment filing, clearing a procedural obstacle that had delayed the case.

Gotliv has repeatedly framed the matter as a political and legal fight over her work as an MK. In her post ahead of the indictment, she wrote that the attorney-general had acted after Katz signed the confidentiality certificate, and said she had not yet received the indictment, adding that she expected to read it “soon at one of [Baharav-Miara’s] mouthpieces.”