Firebrand Likud MK indicted for disclosing Shin Bet agent’s identity

Tally Gotliv, who revealed details on partner of opposition activist while spreading conspiracy theory about him, submits immunity request to Knesset panel; ministers denounce AG for ‘persecuting the right’

The Attorney General’s Office announced on Tuesday that it was indicting Likud MK Tally Gotliv for allegedly violating the law by disclosing the identity of a Shin Bet agent, sparking harsh criticism as well as threats against judicial officials from the firebrand lawmaker’s coalition allies.

In January 2024, Gotliv posted on social media that the partner of Shikma Bressler, a key leader of the protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul, was an agent with the security service. She repeated conspiracy theories alleging he had ties to Hamas, and insinuated that this collaboration had contributed to the October 7 attacks — prompting both Bressler and her partner to file defamation suits against her.

She is charged with violating a law forbidding publicly revealing the identity of agency agents. According to the indictment, filed in the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court, Gotliv shared the agent’s identity “in a conscious, deliberate, ongoing, demonstrative and repeated manner” to her tens of thousands of Twitter followers.

In a series of posts, Gotliv spread allegations that Bressler’s partner had conducted talks with then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar prior to the terror group’s October 7, 2023, invasion, and coordinated the atrocities with Sinwar and former prime minister Ehud Barak.

Bressler, a physicist, shot to national prominence as one of the most visible leaders of the nationwide protest movement that sprang up in early 2023 against the government’s judicial overhaul plans, which critics said would undermine democracy in Israel.

According to the indictment, despite warnings by the Shin Bet that her posts constituted potential security risks, Gotliv “consciously and intentionally” did not remove the posts and stood by their publication, continuing to share posts about Bressler’s partner and stating that she would keep doing so.

Gotliv wrote on Tuesday on X: “A stormy round of applause for [Attorney General Gali Baharav-] Miara. She has just announced the filing of an indictment against me.”

She insisted that “the exposure of Bressler’s spouse was done within the framework and for the purpose of fulfilling my duties.” MKs have immunity against charges for actions tied to their duties.

“The indictment has not yet been sent to me, but I rely on Miara that I will read it soon through one of her mouthpieces,” the lawmaker added.

Coalition lawmakers and ministers were quick to condemn the indictment, painting it as a fabrication and part of a larger attack on the government.

“The time has come for [Justice Minister] Yariv Levin and my friends in Likud to overcome their barrier of fear against the attorney general — [judicial] reform now,” tweeted National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud) accused Baharav-Miara of engaging in a “frame-up” against his colleague, arguing that the government “must once again advance the process of her dismissal, and at the same time, examine whether she has engaged in breach of trust over her trampling of elected officials.”

The coalition voted to dismiss Baharav-Miara in August, but the decision was frozen by the High Court. The coalition is now advancing legislation to split her role into three.

Baharav-Miara was only able to file the indictment after Defense Minister Israel Katz, also a Likud member, this month signed off on a confidentiality agreement required in any case with classified, sensitive evidence.

Gotliv was summoned twice by police for questioning over the affair but refused to show up, claiming her actions were covered by parliamentary immunity.

The indictment was therefore prepared without her ever giving testimony, and has been ready for the past nine months, Ynet and the Kan public broadcaster reported.

The defense minister, who, like Gotliv, is a member of Likud, was eventually forced to sign the certificate after the Shin Bet warned him that failure to do so could harm national security.

Since entering the Knesset in November 2022, Gotliv has established a reputation for making incendiary claims against protest groups and accusing the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet of “working for terrorists.”

She has also repeatedly disrupted Knesset and judicial proceedings, such as when she compared a security guard who forcibly ejected her from a court hearing to Jews who implemented Nazi instructions under duress during the Holocaust.

Her indictment was announced shortly after lawmakers on the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee voted to advance to their first readings in the Knesset plenum a pair of controversial bills that would curtail the power of the attorney general and make it harder to indict high-ranking government officials.

Gotliv herself has also promoted legislation to enhance parliamentary immunity since the Bressler affair began.

There are two types of parliamentary immunity for MKs: substantive immunity, which applies to actions that are directly related to an MK’s official duties and mostly applies to their freedom of speech, and procedural immunity protecting MKs from being put on trial while in office, but which must be actively granted by the Knesset.

After the attorney general sends the indictment to the accused MK and to the Speaker of the Knesset, the MK is given 30 days in which to request that the Knesset grant him or her immunity. When such a request is submitted, the Knesset House Committee must consider it as soon as possible.

The coalition currently enjoys a majority on the committee.

In a follow-up post on X on Tuesday afternoon, Gotliv announced that she had already submitted an immunity request, while again attacking the attorney general.

Barahav-Miara is a “dismissed political AG who is busy 24/7 thwarting and persecuting the government and right-wing Members of Knesset,” declared Education Minister Yoav Kisch, calling on members of the Knesset House Committee “to make the right decision” and vote to give Gotliv immunity.

Framing Gotliv’s indictment as part of a “witch-hunt against those who make the deep state tremble,” Likud MK Moshe Saada, a member of the Knesset House Committee, tweeted that he “will do everything in my power to ensure that Tally Gotliv’s immunity is not lifted, and I have no doubt that will be the case.”

“Tally Gotliv will be a member of the next government and together we will ensure that the criminals Miara and [Deputy Attorney General Gil] Limon, and all their other friends who use the legal enforcement system as a tool for political assassinations, will be held accountable,” Saada added.