Defense Minister Benny Gantz has stridently split with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, vowing to protect members of the law enforcement community from attacks.
“You do your jobs and defend the rule of law and democracy, and we will do ours and protect you,” he says at the start of a Blue and White faction meeting.
“Harsh attacks from those in power against the law enforcement system are a danger to Israeli democracy,” he adds. “This is not legitimate criticism, and it’s nothing but an attempt to dismantle it.”
The comments come hours after Netanyahu launched a fresh attack on police, prosecutors and the attorney general, ordering an independent probe into allegations that they conspired to cover up a conflict of interest regarding an investigator who was romantically linked to a relative of another suspect in a case Netanyahu is being tried in.
Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn, also of Blue and White, has rejected calls to reopen the case.
“The justice system was not born and will not be torn down for the benefit or harm of one man or another,” Gantz says. “We will stand together as a wall to protect the law enforcement system.”
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