Ghattas to be indicted over terrorist phone smuggling
Joint List MK freed from house arrest but passport seized
Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit issued a summons to MK Basel Ghattas (Joint List) on Thursday for a pre-indictment hearing, and notified the MK that – absent exceptional circumstances in which he can convince Mandelblit to back down – he will file an amendment in the phones-to-terrorists affair.
The pre-indictment hearing is reserved for public officials. Its date has not yet been set.
The case has ratcheted up tension between the Balad political party (part of the Joint List) and authorities over whether Ghattas perpetrated a serious security offense, or is being hunted by law enforcement as part of a crackdown on loud politicians among the country’s Arab minority.
On December 18, 12 cellphones and 16 SIM cards were found to have been smuggled to security prisoners in Ketziot Prison by Ghattas.
The Beersheba District Attorney’s Office has already charged Asad Daka, brother of one of the prisoners – convicted terrorist murderer Walid Daka – with illegal actions. Walid is serving a 37-year term for murdering IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.
Asad Daka is suspected of acting as Ghattas’s handler.
According to the indictment, on December 18, Asad Daka met with Ghattas to give him the equipment. The meeting took place at a Dor Alon gas station on the north side of Route 6.
He then gave Ghattas the equipment with instructions to smuggle them into his brother Walid, and to security prisoner Basil Bizra, knowing that the purpose of smuggling the equipment was to endanger people’s lives and national security.
Bizra is serving a 15-year sentence for terrorism-related activities.
Ghattas met at the prison with Walid Daka and gave him various documents to distribute within the prison. He then met with Bizra and gave him the cellphones and SIM cards to distribute.
Both Daka and Bizra were caught by police during a standard search of the prisoners after their meeting with Ghattas, searches that also led to the pending allegations against Ghattas, according to the indictment.
However, Mandelblit’s explanation of his intention to indict Ghattas added details, including that Ghattas set off the prison’s metal detectors when he walked through them.
Ghattas claimed it was his belt.
But Ghattas refused to comply when the guard asked him to remove his belt, citing his parliamentary immunity from being searched, said Mandelblit’s statement.
Mandelblit’s inclination toward indicting Ghattas was also confirmed in a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and Knesset House Committee chairman Yoav Kisch (Likud).
Meanwhile, impeachment proceedings for Ghattas are likely to move forward now that Mandelblit summons has been issued.
A Yesh Atid spokesman said the party would follow through on its promise to support Ghattas’s dismissal from the Knesset once he is indicted.
Shortly after the Ghattas affair came to light, Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin began collecting the requisite 70 MKs’ signatures needed to begin the impeachment proceedings. He had an easy time with coalition lawmakers, but still needs some opposition members to sign.
Elkin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have repeatedly goaded Yesh Atid about its refusal to sign, saying party leader Yair Lapid was trying to fool the public, but is truly left wing and leading a leftist party.
Lapid, however, said that he would only join the impeachment effort if it did not impede the legal proceedings, which a party spokesman later clarified meant that he would not do so before an indictment.
Once Elkin gathers the signatures, he can bring the petition to the Knesset House Committee, which will hold a hearing on whether to expel Ghattas from the Knesset. If the committee decides to impeach him, the full Knesset must then approve the decision with a three-fourths vote (90 MKs).
The Knesset already stripped Ghattas of his immunity from search and arrest, leading to his subsequent remand and house arrest, and the Knesset Ethics Committee suspended Ghattas for six months from all Knesset activities, except for voting in the plenum. However, he will continue to receive a salary during that time.
Also on Thursday, Ghattas defeated the state prosecution’s attempt to keep him under house arrest pending the indictment.
Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court Judge Menachem Mizrahi freed Ghattas from house arrest, allowing him to travel anywhere within the country other than to visit at a prison. Ghattas’ passport has been confiscated, preventing him from leaving the country.
Mizarahi explained that as long as Ghattas serves in the Knesset, he has the right to interact with his constituency and campaign for their causes.
Ghattas reacted to the decision jubilantly, slamming Mandelblit and the prosecution for trying to keep him under house arrest, and for prosecuting him, saying that his parliamentary immunity should have precluded such action.
He stated that the entire prosecution was a witch-hunt to try quiet Israeli-Arab politicians who are critical of government policies.
The state prosecution did not respond to the decision.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.