Yona Yahav, candidate for mayor of Haifa, votes in the local elections, Dania neighborhood polls, February 27, 2024/Yoav Itiel
Director General of the Ministry of the Interior Ronan Peretz this morning (Tuesday) commented on the Walla! revelation that the Shin Bet and the police recommended postponing the elections in some of the Arab local authorities due to fear of criminal elements taking over or violently harming the candidates.
"The democratic process is a fundamental right, it cannot be canceled with a wave of the hand," he said in an interview with Kol Barama Radio.
"We are in regular situation assessments with the Shin Bet and the Israel Police. In order to postpone or cancel elections, there must be a very high intelligence standard, but if there is suspicion but security agencies know how to deal with it, we will hold the elections as planned."
Ballots for local authorities, Tel Aviv polling stations, February 27, 2024/Reuven Castro
Yesterday it was published in Walla!
Because last month the Shin Bet and the police advised the Ministry of the Interior to postpone the elections for local authorities that will be held tomorrow in 8 Arab municipalities, this is for fear of the intervention of criminal elements who will succeed in planting candidates on their behalf and thus take over the authority or due to threats to harm the candidates who are running for the presidency. Despite this, in the Ministry of the Interior They rejected the recommendation and decided to hold the elections in those authorities as planned. The details were revealed for the first time in Walla!.
The recommendation of the Shin Bet and the police after in-depth discussions that had been going on since September of last year.
In the discussion held by the Ministerial Committee on Crime in the Arab Society in which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the head of the Shin Bet, the commissioner, the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gabir and other government ministers participated.
At that time, crime was rampant in Arab society, and the number of murdered people reached new highs within a short period of time.
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Elections
Ministry of Interior
police
Shin Bet