After months of evasion, minister to be questioned this week over 2020 traffic offense
May Golan’s attorney said to coordinate interrogation, after police repeatedly summoned her over incident in which she allegedly ran red light and hurt motorcyclist

Social Equality Minister May Golan (Likud) will show up this week for questioning under caution by police over her alleged role in hitting and injuring a motorcyclist with her car in 2020, after evading successive summonses for over half a year, Hebrew media reported Sunday evening.
Police suspect that Golan, then an MK, ran a red light in Tel Aviv and collided with the motorcyclist as a result, leaving him lightly injured and causing damage to the motorcycle.
The case was closed on account of Golan’s parliamentary immunity, but was reopened in or shortly before June 2024 with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s approval, following an appeal by the motorcyclist.
Multiple media outlets reported Sunday that Golan has since evaded several summonses from police to show up for questioning in the case, sometimes alleging the probe is “political” and sometimes — including as late as last week — citing scheduling issues.
The Haaretz daily cited unnamed jurists as estimating that failure to show up could be treated as a decision by a suspect to remain silent during interrogation. The outlet said a prosecution ombudsman has recently criticized law enforcement bodies for the length of time the case has been ongoing without Golan being questioned.
Later Sunday evening, several reports said Golan’s attorney, Amit Hadad, had notified police that the minister would finally present herself for questioning this week.

Golan is a right-wing firebrand who first gained public attention when she campaigned against the housing of illegal migrants in her home neighborhood of south Tel Aviv.
In June last year, after the case was reopened, she railed against police in a post on X.
“Apparently there are no more crimes in the streets, the state of war is over, crime groups have become peace organizations, and therefore the police have the manpower and free time to summon a government minister about an obscure traffic accident that happened such a long time ago,” she wrote at the time.
“The political persecution and cynical use of police resources for political bashing will not deter, stop or silence me,” she asserted.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees police, responded at the time by attacking Baharav-Miara for okaying the summons, accusing her of “starting to fight the government with all available means” and saying the incident “gives the grim impression of political persecution.” Ben Gvir has since launched an all-out campaign to have Baharav-Miara fired, so far without success.
Last week, Channel 12 aired an exposé into Golan’s conduct, claiming there was widespread nepotism in her office and that she repeatedly misused funds intended for her nonprofit and mistreated employees in her office.
Her office denied the allegations, claiming that some of the recordings aired used artificial intelligence to mimic her voice.
Police are reportedly planning on contacting the Attorney General’s Office to request that it approve an initial check into Golan’s allegedly criminal financial activities, though a spokesman for the attorney general told The Times of Israel that the police had not yet reached out, and that the office would deal with any such request when the time comes.
Charlie Summers contributed to this report.