Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Tuesday announced criminal charges against Tally Gotliv, a Knesset lawmaker for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party.
“It was decided to indict MK Tally Gotliv for the offense of disclosing and publishing classified information in violation of the General Security Service Law,” read a statement from Baharav-Miara’s office, referencing the law governing the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) domestic intelligence agency.
According to the indictment, Gotliv in January 2024 shared an article revealing the identity of a serving Shin Bet operative on her X account. The post claimed that the husband of Shikma Bressler—one of the main leaders of the anti-Netanyahu protest movement—spoke with Hamas leader Yahyah Sinwar just days before the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.
Gotliv in her post implied a degree of coordination between Bressler or her husband and Hamas terrorists, a claim both the ISA and Mossad intelligence agency have said was unfounded.
Deliberately disclosing or publishing information protected under the General Security Service Law carries a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison.
However, Gotliv has argued that revealing the identity of Bressler’s husband was part of her duties as a lawmaker. She is expected to seek parliamentary immunity.
As part of that process, the Knesset House Committee will hear arguments from both Gotliv and Baharav-Miara before deciding whether to recommend granting immunity. If the committee rejects the request, the attorney general may proceed with filing the indictment to a court. If it approves the request, the matter will go to a vote in the 120-member Knesset plenum.
While Netanyahu and his political partners hold an 11-6 majority on the Knesset House Committee, three coalition members belong to ultra-Orthodox parties that in recent days have sought to bring down the government.
Likud MK Avichai Boaron, a member of the Knesset House Committee, told local media on Tuesday that “with God’s help, very soon, we will vote to grant immunity to my colleague Tally and prevent her prosecution.”
Boaron accused “the radical left that has taken over the State Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office” of trying to prosecute right-wing lawmakers “for no wrongdoing.”
Likud MK Boaz Bismuth called on the government to renew its attempts to remove Baharav-Miara from office, and investigate whether she committed the offense of breach of trust through the “trampling of elected officials.”
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit Party) also weighed in, stating: “The time has come for [Justice Minister] Yariv Levin and my colleagues in the Likud Party to get past their fear of the attorney general—reform now!”
Israel’s right-wing coalition has been at loggerheads with the attorney general since its formation after the general election of Nov. 1, 2022.
According to Israeli law, Baharav-Miara does not work for the premier, as opposed to in the United States, where the attorney general is an agent of the executive branch. Netanyahu and others have often clashed with Baharav-Miara, who was appointed to the post in 2022 by the coalition led by then-premier Naftali Bennett.
Netanyahu’s Cabinet in August 2025 unanimously passed a motion to dismiss Baharav-Miara, though the High Court of Justice subsequently canceled the decision and reinstated her following legal proceedings against the move.
