Police accuse judge who released Qatargate suspects to house arrest of acting on personal interests

In an appeal against the decision of the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court to release two key suspects in the Qatargate scandal to house arrest, the Israel Police charge that Judge Menachem Mizrahi has been acting on his own personal interests.

“From the start of the hearing in this case, the judge has been acting in a way that we do not understand,” police say. “It started with the fact that he completely removed the sweeping gag order. Even when we asked to just reduce the gag order, he rejected us outright. Even when we filed for a stay of execution, he said there wasn’t any room for that.”

The police say they feel as though the judge is “‘giving his regards’ to the Judicial Selection Committee in order to pave the way for him to be appointed as a district judge.”

They further accuse him of forcing police investigators to discuss “sensitive documents” in hearings and say he writes his case decisions as though he is writing “press releases.”

“He writes classified things and then deletes them from the minutes after the media has already published them,” police charge.