Likud comes out in support of prison service chief facing potential indictment

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party publicly backs Prison Service chief Kobi Yaakobi, who is facing a possible indictment over alleged ethical violations.

Yaakobi is suspected of informing Avishai Muallem, a former senior police detective in the West Bank, about a covert probe involving him.

Yaakobi “is a respected officer who dedicated his entire life to the security of the country and its citizens,” Likud says in a statement. “Since taking office as Commissioner of the IPS, Yaakobi has carried out a true revolution that has received overwhelming praise from all ranks of the organization and even from the rest of the country’s security agencies.”

Last week, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman gave Yaakobi a three-week deadline to decide on a hearing date as they weigh whether to indict him for suspected ethical violations. The prison chief is being granted a hearing to present evidence in his defense before prosecutors decide whether to formally charge him with breach of trust and obstructing an investigation.

Baharav-Miara’s decision “to prosecute him, especially in the midst of a war, is delusional,” the Likud statement says.

Muallem, who has himself been indicted, allegedly obstructed investigations into Jewish nationalist violence in a bid to curry favor with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.