Group suspected of forging entry permits for Palestinians
Israeli farmers, Interior Ministry, Civil Administration workers and Palestinians arrested on suspicion of fraudulently issuing hundreds of entry permits to Israel, selling them to Palestinian workers for millions of shekels
Hundreds of Palestinians seeking to work in Israel, but lacking the necessary permits, allegedly paid a collective amount of millions of shekels to obtain the desired documents. According to suspicion, a senior Interior Ministry employee and a Civil Administration worker are believed to have been involved in issuing the fake permits.
Police detectives made the arrest on Sunday, which also included a number of Israeli employers involved in the affair. In the meantime, IDF forces, and Border Guard and police officers raided the homes of dozens of Palestinians also suspected of trading in entry permits to Israel.
The police investigation, which was carried out together with the Tax Authority and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, revealed that the network involved in helping Palestinians fraudulently enter Israel included a number of farmers as well.
The probe showed that the main suspect in the affair formed a sophisticated network for the issuing of entry and stay permits to Palestinians.
The undercover investigation, which was carried out for a number of months under Commander Dorit Ben-Meir, revealed the system that was used: A Palestinian worker would approach his contact in the territories, who would connect the worker with the main suspect to have a stay permits issued.
The main suspect would then contact the Interior Ministry and Civil Administration officials and ask they issue permits for the workers at the expense of the agricultural permits quota.
The permit would then be canceled several days later in the Interior Ministry and Civil Administration's records, but the worker would continue to enter Israel with a seemingly valid permit and present it to the employer.
Once a permit was canceled, the suspects would issue new permits in the same manner. This created a situation in which hundreds of Palestinians would fraudulently enter Israel at the expense of a law allowing farmers to issue permits for a number of workers in Israel.
The main suspects are to be arraigned at the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court on Sunday.
