Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyers in his corruption trial ask the Jerusalem District Court to force prosecutors to hand over the attorney general’s authorizations to initiate each of the three criminal investigations against him, arguing that existing investigation material indicates discrimination against the premier.
Boaz Ben-Tzur and Amit Hadad claim that “police investigators worked to conduct a general, amorphous and limitless investigation into the prime minister. They operated as if they had an ‘blank check’ enabling them to collect any shred of gossip as long as it’s related to the prime minister, which is illegal,” rather than getting approval to probe a specific suspicion.
They make the claim based on the 2016 police testimony of former national security adviser Uzi Arad, who “was asked to give incriminating information regarding the prime minister, no matter the nature of the information.”
“This is a personal investigation, rather than an investigation that focuses on a concrete suspicion,” they conclude.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with his lawyers in the courtroom, as his corruption trial opens at the Jerusalem District Court, May 24, 2020. (Ronen Zvulun/ Pool Photo via AP)
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