Police appeal court decision to allow Braverman to leave the country amid probe

Police appeal a court’s decision to allow Tzachi Braverman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff, to leave the country as investigators probe him on suspicion of obstructing justice.

Yesterday, Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court judge Menachem Mizrahi rejected police’s request to delay Braverman’s flight to the United Kingdom, where he is slated to take up the role of ambassador.

Braverman is being investigated on suspicion of trying to interfere in a probe into the leak of classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office to German tabloid Bild. Given the nature of the suspicions against him, police are said to be worried that his departure from Israel will hinder the investigation.

In their appeal, police argue that the court “weighed considerations that are not within its field of expertise, like what is best for the State of Israel.”

“It is unclear on what basis the court determined that this [delaying Braverman’s appointment] would harm relations with Britain. It is not the court’s role to weigh considerations of this kind,” the appeal continues, according to Ynet.

Despite rejecting the police bid to keep Braverman in the country, Mizrahi approved their request to require him to show up for questioning in Israel within 12 hours of being summoned. Braverman is also forbidden from contacting other suspects in the case, including Omer Mansour, Eli Feldstein and Jonatan Urich.

Many of Mizrahi’s rulings in the cases relating to scandals in the Prime Minister’s Office have been overturned by a higher court.