Shin Bet chief David Zini said Thursday that the agency he leads is subordinate to the Central Elections Committee when it comes to the upcoming national vote, in the wake of a controversy in which he said he was loyal to the country’s “elected leadership.”

Zini held a meeting Thursday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem with President Isaac Herzog and Central Elections Committee chairman Noam Sohlberg, in which the participants stressed their commitment to “ensuring the integrity of the election,” the president’s office said.

During the meeting, which came at Zini’s initiative, the three officials “emphasized their shared commitment to safeguarding the purity of the elections, strengthening public trust and upholding the status of the Central Elections Committee,” according to a readout from Herzog’s office.

The meeting came just days after comments from Zini drew sharp criticism from current and former officials. Speaking Tuesday, in audio that was first leaked and later published by the Shin Bet, Zini said that he had accepted the role of agency chief because of his ability to be “loyal to the elected leadership.” Under the law, the Shin Bet is subordinate to the government.

Opposition leaders reacted sharply to the comments at the time, saying the Shin Bet must be loyal to the country and its people rather than any political power. Herzog himself said in a speech Wednesday that Israel’s “security and law enforcement bodies are not loyal to any individual or political camp, but to the sovereign — the people of Israel, the laws of the State of Israel and the the values of the Jewish and democratic state.”

In the readout from the meeting on Thursday, Zini said that “with regard to elections, the Shin Bet is directly subordinate to the chair of the Central Elections Committee, in order to do everything in........

© The Times of Israel