Police on Monday detained a number of senior officials in the Histadrut — including the chair of the country’s main labor federation, Arnon Bar-David — amid a major investigation into alleged corruption.
While most details of the probe were not revealed, police said the investigation spanned more than two years, and that those detained are suspected bribery, fraud and breach of trust, money laundering and tax offenses.
In a statement, police said dozens of suspects were detained in connection with the alleged scheme.
Police said the undercover investigation began around two years ago, and that senior officials are suspected of accepting bribes and benefits from businessmen, in exchange for promoting their companies.
Israel Police chief Danny Levy called it “one of the most serious cases we have investigated.”
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He added: “There is a connection between businesspeople and senior figures in the economy, including labor unions, for both electoral and promotional purposes. We will act decisively and without fear of investigating senior figures in order to get to the truth.”
General view of the Israel Police Lahav 433 major crimes unit headquarters in the city of Lod on April 2, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
According to Hebrew media reports, law enforcement officers from the Lahav 433 major crimes unit raided the offices of the organization at 6 a.m. Monday morning, as well as the homes of several senior union officials.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, Bar-David was detained along with his partner. The report added that a mayor and several senior officials in local authorities were also detained.
The outlet said police suspect a businessman operated a system with the Histadrut, with clients hiring his services to procure jobs in local authorities and corporations, with the help of senior officials from the labor union, who allegedly received financial compensation in return.
According to several reports, more than 350 union officials, local authority staffers and business leaders were expected to end up being questioned as part of the ongoing investigation.
The Histadrut reacted by saying it was cooperating with law enforcement authorities.
“We are confident in the innocence of our people and are cooperating with enforcement authorities,” said Histadrut spokesperson Yaniv Levy in a statement. “We cannot comment further on ongoing proceedings.”
“The Histadrut’s public activities continue to operate as usual, including all of the organization’s services throughout the country,” said Levy.
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