Ex-Shin Bet chief questioned on allegations he blackmailed Netanyahu in TV interview
Nadav Argaman told Channel 12 last week he could release compromising information if PM breaks law; interrogation comes as masses protest bid to oust Argaman’s successor Ronen Bar
Police on Thursday questioned former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman over allegations he effectively blackmailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, six days after the premier filed a complaint against Argaman for threatening to reveal undisclosed damaging details on him if Netanyahu were to break the law.
The questioning lasted several hours. No details were immediately available.
The interrogation came on the second straight day of mass protests against Netanyahu’s plan to oust current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who succeeded Argaman in 2021.
Argaman had indicated in an interview broadcast on Channel 12 last Thursday that he was sitting on a trove of compromising information about the premier.
“If the State of Israel or if I conclude that the prime minister has decided that he is going to act in contradiction to the law, then I will not have a choice and I will say everything I know and have refrained from saying until today,” said Argaman.
In the interview, Argaman said Bar should resign over his failure to prevent the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, but urged him to hold off, saying that a Netanyahu-appointed successor could endanger Israel’s democracy.
Amid an investigation of alleged ties between Netanyahu’s top aides and Hamas-backer Qatar, Argaman also accused the premier of ignoring his warnings against the flow of Qatari cash to Hamas in the decade leading up to the onslaught.
Following the interview, Netanyahu complained to Police Commissioner Daniel Levy that Argaman had “threatened and blackmailed a sitting prime minister with the methods and ways of crime organizations.”
Levy said Friday that he had instructed investigators to review Argaman’s comments. On Sunday, police decided to summon the ex-Shin Bet chief for questioning.
Writing on social media after the interview, Netanyahu also accused Bar of running a media campaign against him. Bar rejected the accusation and distanced himself from Argaman’s threat.
On Sunday, Netanyahu announced that he would seek Bar’s ouster, citing ongoing mistrust in the Shin Bet chief. A government vote on the move was scheduled for Thursday night.
The vote was set over the objections of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who warned the government must obtain a recommendation from an advisory committee before weighing Bar’s dismissal.
Baharav-Miara, whom the government also seeks to oust, had previously said the vote must wait until after her office reviews the motives for Bar’s dismissal, due to the ongoing Shin Bet probe of the Qatar affair.
Netanyahu pushed back on the latter objection, saying the decision to oust Bar was taken before the Shin Bet launched the Qatar probe last month. The prime minister accused Baharav-Miara of opening a politically motivated criminal investigation into the matter, as a ploy to prevent Bar’s ouster.
Opposition figures have slammed the planned ouster, saying the long-time premier is trying to offload his own responsibility for the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Bar had sought to stay on his job until the remaining 59 hostages were returned, and the government establishes a state commission of inquiry — Israel’s highest investigative authority — into the shock assault.
Netanyahu, whose government is leading a bid to weaken the judiciary, has rejected such a commission as biased against him since it is appointed by the chief justice and headed by a retired Supreme Court justice.
