AG weighing indictment of Likud’s Gotliv for unmasking Shin Bet agent

Controversial MK revealed identity of protest leader’s partner as operative; Gotliv claims parliamentary immunity and vows not to attend hearing, making indictment almost inevitable

By Jeremy Sharon

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10 July 2025, 3:11 pm

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Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

Anti-government activist Shikma Bressler (R) and MK Tally Gotliv (C) arrive for a court hearing in Bressler's defamation lawsuit against Gotliv at the District Court in Lod, September 17, 2024. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is considering filing an indictment, subject to a hearing, against firebrand Likud MK Tally Gotliv for allegedly violating the Shin Bet law by disclosing the identity of an agent of the security service, the State Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday.

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

Following Thursday’s announcement, Gotliv vowed not to attend a hearing on a whether she should be indicted, making it almost inevitable that the attorney general will proceed with the indictment process.

Gotliv is not legally obligated to attend a hearing since it is considered a right granted to a suspect before an indictment can be filed.

The Knesset will need to decide whether or not to grant Gotliv immunity before Baharav-Miara can file an indictment.

In January 2024, the controversial Knesset member posted on social media that the partner of Shikma Bressler, a key leader of the protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul agenda, was a Shin Bet agent, ostensibly violating the 2002 Law for the Shin Bet which prohibits disclosing the identity of an agent.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Gotliv has claimed that her actions are protected by her parliamentary immunity as an MK, although critics have said that disclosing the identity of a Shin Bet agent does not qualify under the parliamentary immunity criteria of an lawmaker fulfilling their duty as a member of Knesset.

“My disclosure that the partner of Shikma Bresler, the inciter, rebel and leader of the civil rebellion which she led against me, was done within the framework of me fulfilling my duty and precisely for which parliamentary immunity was designed,” declared Gotliv in response to the announcement.

Likud MK Tally Gotliv speaks during a Knesset committee meeting in Jerusalem on March 11, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

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.

Separately, last year Bressler filed a NIS 2.6 million ($715,000) defamation suit against Gotliv, after the lawmaker repeatedly circulated unfounded claims that connected the protest leader with the Hamas terror group and its deadly October 7 onslaught.

Shikma Bressler attends an anti-judicial overhaul rally at the gates of the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 27, 2023. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

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.”

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