Mandelblit delay bruises Gantz’s possible timing calculus

More details about Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s request for Benny Gantz to delay the start of an inquiry into the submarine affair.

In a letter to Gantz, Mandelblit explains that there are some areas that the commission will look into that overlap with areas his criminal probe is covering.

It’s not clear how much longer Mandelblit’s probe, already several years old, will still take.

Gantz’s inquiry panel had been scheduled to hold its first meeting Tuesday, and was slated to meet three times a week, in order to have a report prepared by early March.

While the panel lacks the teeth of a state commission of inquiry, the timing, which would place the report’s release just ahead of possible elections in March, had been seen as one of Gantz’s calculations in launching the probe.

The probe was seen as one of the factors leading to a rift between Likud and Blue and White that has many predicting the collapse of the government next month. Since then, some reports have indicated the sides are moving toward a compromise deal to keep the gang together.