An employee of HaMoked was summoned to a meeting with a GSS agent in which he was asked about his activities at HaMoked and elsewhere: The GSS man who introduced himself as “Peter” also told the employee that he had an “offer” for him to “help one another”

On 25 July, 2007, Mr. Tom Mehager, who works at HaMoked, received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as “Peter from the Ministry of Defense”. Peter said he had an offer for Mr. Mehager and that it was not a job offer. The meeting was held in an office in Givat Shaul in Jerusalem. At the beginning of the meeting, the man from the General Security Service [GSS, later known as ISA] asked about Mr. Mehager’s political views. He answered and outlined his ideological concepts, talked about his refusal to serve in a military checkpoint and about his serving time in jail as a result. 

Later, Peter presented Mr. Mehager possible scenarios and asked for his opinion. For example, he described a situation where left wing activists cause damage to the separation wall. Mr. Mehager pointed out that it was ridiculous to speak of a young man cutting up some barbed wire with a pair of pliers while not far from there, Israel demolishes houses as collective punishment under the guise of a legal action. Peter added that he knew that left wing activists meet with Palestinians(!), and Mr. Mehager replied that he indeed was taking part in the activities of the “Combatants for Peace” movement. Peter told Mr. Mehager that he was familiar with the group and that he was concerned that activists would cross the line and cross the line from legitimate actions such as these to terrorist activities. He spoke of the possibility of transferring a booby-trapped package from Palestinians to Jews, but Mr. Mehager said that the theoretical scenarios he was talking about contradict the familiar daily reality in which the daughter of his friend from “Combatants for Peace” was killed by Border Police Officers in Anata. 

During the conversation, Peter mentioned the possibility that they would “help one another”. Mr. Mehager refused and said that if he heard of any illegal activities he would report them to the police, as required by law. 

In a letter to the General Attorney, HaMoked stated that it condemns the  attempt made by the GSS [later known as ISA] to interfere with the activities of human rights organizations, follow them, collect information about them and attempt to deter them from working toward justice. Such interference is an attack on the fundamental principles of the democratic regime and on those who are dedicated to establishing and strengthening it. 

To view the letter to the General Attorney from August 5, 2007 (Hebrew)