Foriegn Minister Yair Lapid says as the government decides on what sort of commission to establish to examine the NSO police spying scandal, those at the top should not think they are immune.
Those who used to be at the top, at least.
Lapid says the first one investigated by the commission should be Likud MK Amir Ohana, who was justice minister from June 2019 to May 2020 and then public security minister until June of last year.
Public Security Minister Amir Ohana at the lighting of a bonfire during the celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Lag Baomer on Mt. Meron in northern Israel on April 29, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)
Notably, all other justice ministers aside from Ohana in the last seven years have been figures in parties aligned with Lapid’s government. Gilad Erdan, who Lapid has kept on as UN ambassador, was public security minister before Ohana.
He says it will take a week for the government to decide whether to establish a government inquiry or a state commission which would have wider powers.
He also defends the police, saying “only criminals will be happy if they are dismantled,” echoing rhetoric in the US against calls to defund law enforcement there.
“But along with that, gatekeepers of the law need to be the ones who keep the rules better than anyone. Nobody is immune from investigation,” he says.
The scandal “clouds Israeli democracy,” he adds.
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Monday, February 7, 2022
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