Netanyahu says taking his aides’ phones is a ‘terror attack against democracy’

Netanyahu launches an attack on law enforcement officials for examining the phones of those of his aides who are suspected of intimidating a witness in one of the cases against him.

In a tweet, the prime minister calls the move “a terror attack against Israeli democracy and every citizen’s right to privacy.”

“We don’t live under a totalitarian regime and this is unacceptable,” he says. “The goal is to terrorize my immediate circle and thus deny me the ability to respond to the criminal flood of leaks that is targeting me nonstop.”

According to a Channel 13 report this evening, one of Netanyahu’s aides, Jonatan Urich, told police that the prime minister was not aware of the initiative that is under investigation.

Urich and three others are suspected of ordering a van to the home of Shlomo Filber — a state witness in one of the corruption cases against Netanyahu — with loudspeakers blasting allegations he lied about the case.

Urich reportedly told police that the initiative was a campaign stunt rather than an authentic effort to intimidate Filber.