Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara asked former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to provide her with materials concerning the involvement of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in police work, according to a report revealed this evening by I24NEWS correspondent Avishai Grinzaig.
According to the report, the request was intended to allow the Attorney General to use the information in the state’s response to petitions brought before the High Court of Justice calling for the minister’s dismissal.
The current revelation sheds new light on a report published about a year ago by Amit Segal, according to which Ronen Bar instructed his subordinates in the Shin Bet to collect information on Minister Ben-Gvir’s conduct vis-à-vis the police.
That probe, which initially focused on political involvement in police work, later expanded to examine the “infiltration of Kahanism" into the organization’s ranks. It now emerges that the move began, among other things, following a direct request from the Attorney General, who sought to build a factual foundation against the minister for legal proceedings.
Despite the efforts, the initial findings gathered by the Shin Bet failed to substantiate the suspicions that Ronen Bar had sought to verify.
Nevertheless, Bar did not close the case and instead instructed his staff to deepen the investigation in order to obtain more significant findings.
The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on the report.