Netanyahu files police complaint over ‘mafia-like’ blackmail by ex-Shin Bet chief
Police chief orders review of comments by Nadav Argaman, after PM accuses him of using criminal tactics when threatening in TV interview to publish secret info if Netanyahu breaks the law
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained to police Friday against former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman, accusing him of “threatening and blackmailing a sitting prime minister” during a televised interview aired the night before.
In a letter sent to Israel Police Chief Daniel Levy, the prime minister urged opening an investigation against Argaman who “had crossed all red lines” when he chose to “threaten and blackmail a sitting prime minister with the methods and ways of crime organizations,” acting in like the “mafia” and using “underworld” tactics.
The letter, published in full by Likud, was sent by Netanyahu’s attorney Uriel Nizri.
Police Commissioner Daniel Levi said on Friday afternoon that he had instructed investigators “to review the comments” made by Argaman, the police said in a statement.
During his interview with the same network the night before, Argaman claimed to be sitting on a trove of information that would compromise the prime minister and threatened to make it public if Netanyahu breaks the law.
Netanyahu wrote to Levy that Argaman was threatening the prime minister via “criminal use of information he gained within the framework of his role in the Shin Bet agency.”
Such action, he said, is a threat “not just to the prime minister but an absolute threat to the Israeli regime, the rule of law and to democracy.”
He said the severity “goes beyond that of security offenses.”
In the wide-ranging talk with Channel 12, Argaman detailed some of the disagreements he had with Netanyahu during his tenure as Shin Bet chief from 2016 to 2021, particularly surrounding the matter of Qatari aid being allowed into the Gaza Strip.
“It’s quite clear that I have a great deal of knowledge, which I can put to use… but I’m currently keeping everything that happened between myself and the prime minister” out of the public sphere, Argaman said.
However, “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,” he warned.
Netanyahu quickly hit back at Argaman, accusing him of blackmail in a statement posted to X.
“Tonight, another dangerous red line was crossed for Israeli democracy,” the premier said Thursday evening. “Never, in the entire history of Israel, and the history of democracy, has the former head of a security service blackmailed a sitting prime minister on live television.”
Netanyahu then lodged the same “blackmail” accusation against current Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. He offered limited detail to explain the claim but claimed the Shin Bet chief held a series of off-record briefings with certain reporters in recent days in order to tarnish the premier.
Bar’s agency, in turn, issued a statement responding to Netanyahu saying the accusation against Bar was a “serious allegation against the head of state organization.”
It added that the Shin Bet chief “devotes all of his time to security matters, efforts to recover the hostages and the defense of democracy. Any statement to the contrary is devoid of any truth.”
Netanyahu is widely reported to have been working for months to try and oust Bar, as he seeks to place the blame for the failures that allowed for Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught to unfold solely on the security echelon, as opposed to the political leadership.
Bar is said to be pushing back against the effort to oust him, fearing that acquiescence would allow Netanyahu to appoint a loyalist in his stead. Bar has refused to step down despite his agency’s probe into October 7 finding failures by his agency, with him and Netanyahu trading increasingly public barbs.
The effort to fire Bar has been complicated in recent weeks, amid the launch of a joint Shin Bet-police investigation into alleged ties between several of Netanyahu’s aides and the Qatari government. For the prime minister to fire Bar while the investigation is ongoing would likely be perceived as a conflict of interest.
The Times of Israel Community.