Likud MK appears to threaten deputy AG in heated Knesset panel meeting

Likud MK Moshe Saada appears to threaten Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon during a heated Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee discussion as lawmakers debated the coalition’s bill that seeks to divide up the attorney general’s role following months of failed attempts to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and curb her authority.

Saada, addressing Limon directly, says, “You sit in front of me with a smile, and in your place once sat the deputy military advocate general and the military advocate general — also with a smile — and you know where they are today. You know exactly where they are today, and you, Gil, will end up in the same place.”

Former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned in October after admitting that she had authorized the leak of a surveillance video showing alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility.

Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested last month in connection with the leak and the subsequent investigation, and her deputy, Brig. Gen. Gal Asael, was placed under house arrest and suspended from the Military Advocate General Corps.

Tomer-Yerushalmi was released this week from the hospital, where she spent more than a month after an overdose.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has been locked in a legal battle with Baharav-Miara over his attempts to sideline her from the investigation into the Sde Teiman affair, accusing her without evidence of participating in the cover-up of the leak in the initial investigation.

Limon, who is appearing before the committee to represent the attorney general and who fiercely opposes the proposal to split up the role, responds, “You will not threaten me.”

Saada denies that he’s threatening Limon, and continues to accuse the deputy attorney general of obstructing the investigation, saying, “You will not disrupt or taint an investigation. I won’t bow my head to you. I’ll tell you the truth, and when I speak, Gil, you’ll shut up.”

The comments are met with outrage from opposition MKs, including Labor MK Naama Lazimi, who says, “‘What is this, a threat? Rothman, this is a mafia threat — he’s threatening him. Why is he saying this to him?”

Committee chair Simcha Rothman responds to the entire episode by yelling at Lazimi to be silent before ejecting her from the discussion.