The Shin Bet has conducted a covert probe into the possible infiltration of extreme-right elements into the Israel Police following suspected political meddling in the force by the office of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is in charge of the police, a report said Sunday.

The Shin Bet security agency initially seemed to confirm it was examining the concerns, but later issued a denial. Meanwhile, the far-right Ben Gvir called the development an “earthquake” that he said justified the government’s recent move to dismiss agency chief Ronen Bar.

Channel 12 news reported that the probe — for the suspected undermining of governance protocols in Israel — focused on alleged intervention by Ben Gvir’s office in police instructions regarding Jewish prayer at the flashpoint Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem on the Jewish mourning day of Tisha B’Av in August 2024.

The Shin Bet’s investigation began the following month, the report said, presenting what it said was a typed note dated September 26, 2024, from recently fired Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in which he said that the agency had “marked the infiltration of Kahanism into the law enforcement agencies as a dangerous phenomenon whose prevention is part of the Shin Bet’s mission.”

Kahanism is the ideology espoused by extreme-right leader Rabbi Meir Kahane, a former MK who headed the banned ultranationalist group Kach before his death at the hands of an assassin in New York in 1990.

Bar was referring to a 2002 law that states that one of the Shin Bet’s tasks is to protect the democratic regime and its institutions.

Bar in his note said that due to the “involvement of political ranks,” stopping such infiltration must be done “wisely and carefully,” likely in reference to Ben Gvir.

Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party is seen as a successor to the banned, racist Kach party founded by Kahane, though Ben Gvir has more recently claimed to have moderated his views.

Bar gave instructions “to collect evidence and testimony of the involvement of political elements” in law enforcement work and specifically for “unlawfully exerting force.”

According to the TV report, the memo was sent out three weeks after a meeting between Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara during which the Shin Bet chief raised concerns that Ben Gvir had overstepped his authority regarding Jewish visits to the Temple Mount by giving direct........

© The Times of Israel