Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced on Tuesday afternoon that she has decided to file an indictment against Likud MK Tally Gotliv for exposing the identity of a Shin Bet officer, the partner of Shikma Bressler, one of the leading anti-government protest figures.

The indictment accuses Gotliv, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, of unlawfully revealing and publishing classified information without authorization, in violation of the Shin Bet Law. It also states that the prosecution submitted a formal notice that it may seek an actual prison sentence if Gotliv is convicted.

A statement published by Baharav-Miara said: “It was decided to indict MK Tally Gotliv for the offense of disclosing and publishing classified information in violation of the Shin Bet Law.”

In a post on X, Gotliv wrote: “A big round of applause for Miara. She just announced the filing of an indictment against me following Yisrael Katz’s signing of a confidentiality order. As I have already made clear, I intend to convince the members of Knesset that revealing Bresler’s partner was done as part of — and for the purpose of — fulfilling my duties. As you know, I am not easily intimidated.”

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi responded: “Tally, you are a true fighter. Neither Baharav-Miara nor any member of the ‘gang of law enforcement rule’ can intimidate you, and we all know it.”

“The only one who should receive an indictment for all her actions — and eventually will — is the one who herself should be removed from office. ‘כׇּל כְּלִי יוּצַר עָלַיִךְ לֹא יִצְלָח וְכׇל לָשׁוֹן תָּקוּם אִתָּךְ לַמִּשְׁפָּט – תַּרְשִׁיעִי'”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: “The time has come for Yariv Levin and my colleagues in the Likud to overcome their fear of the Attorney General — reform now!”

Prior to the filing of the indictment, MK Gotliv was summoned twice for police questioning but did not appear. Deputy State Adv. Alon Altman clarified in a letter that the immunity law does not allow her to avoid appearing for a criminal investigation, meaning that her failure to appear would be considered either a waiver of her right to provide her version of events or an exercise of her right to remain silent.

Earlier this month, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz signed the required confidentiality order, paving the way for the Attorney General to file the indictment in the case.

The legal battle is now expected to shift to the political arena. Gotliv will be able to claim parliamentary immunity, and the decision will be made by the Knesset Committee. Given the coalition’s majority on the committee, there is a reasonable possibility that her immunity will be preserved and the criminal proceedings halted.

Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal commented on the case, saying that he believes that the indictment is indeed warranted against Gotliv, but the picture is more complex.

“In terms of substance, Tally Gotliv definitely deserves to get hit with an indictment,” Segal wrote. “She published the name of a senior Shin Bet official, along with false accusations about a connection between him and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, although that part is his matter to pursue in a civil lawsuit.”

“In a perfect world, Knesset members would not publish classified information, would not lie about security services, and would not get entangled in such incidents.”

“In a similarly perfect world, the Attorney General  would also not deliberately drag out an investigation against opposition MK Gilad Kariv over leaking a classified protocol from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.”

“The problem, as usual, is the feeling that justice is only being carried out against one side. In summary: Gotliv earned the indictment fair and square, and Baharav-Miara earned the public’s suspicion just as fully,” Segal concluded.

The story behind Kariv’s leak began in December 2023, when reports were published in Maariv and Walla that included quotes from a protocol of a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in June 2023. The reports claimed that the quotes proved that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was aware of the danger of a Hamas attack on Israel.

Following the reports, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana asked the Knesset Officer to investigate the leak. The week-long investigation, which involved accessing security cameras and other evidence, revealed that the only person who reviewed the leaked protocol in the six months from the meeting until the reports were published was Labor MK Gilad Kariv. Kariv reviewed the protocol twice, shortly before the quotes appeared in the media.

Ohana immediately sent the findings to Baharav-Miara, asking her to launch a criminal investigation into the leak, but no action was taken.

The Lavi Civil Rights organization subsequently filed a complaint to the High Court against Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman, stating that the accusations against Kariv of espionage and unauthorized disclosure of classified information during wartime are extremely serious, warranting an immediate criminal investigation. The complaint emphasized that the offenses that Kariv allegedly committed are far more serious than those allegedly committed by Eli Feldstein and Ari Rosenfeld in the PMO’s office leak case, but the prosecution has yet to even order an investigation.

It was only in January 2025, after the High Court held a hearing on the Lavi organization’s claim, that the State Prosecution responded to the Court that a preliminary investigation had been opened against Kariv, “but a final decision has not yet been reached regarding launching a criminal investigation.”

In other words, the legal clerks Baharav-Miara and Aisman completely ignored the request to investigate Kariv, perhaps because they are too busy persecuting lomdei Torah, ensuring that Nukhba terrorists are treated humanely in Israeli jails, and attempting to thwart every appointment made by the democratically elected government.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)