MKs warned not to join illegal protests outside AG’s home

Knesset legal adviser Eyal Yinon warned lawmakers on Monday against participating in demonstrations outside the homes of public figures, following the Supreme Court’s April ruling deeming such protests illegal.

The letter sent Monday was drafted following questions from MKs on whether their immunity from arrest would stand if they participated in demonstrations outside Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s home.

In its April 27 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that although protests are an important and central component of any democratic society, this tactic should not be used to exert improper pressure on public servants by harassing them in their private residences. The court stated that demonstrations within a 120-meter radius from Mandelblit’s home would be prevented by police.

While Yinon’s letter makes clear that Knesset members, like all other citizens, are prohibited from participating in the illegal demonstrations, he stipulated that lawmakers who join will nonetheless be able to avoid arrest due to their parliamentary immunity.

In late March, the Justice Ministry decided to boost the security presence in front of the attorney general’s home, two months after Mandelblit announced that a criminal investigation involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been launched.

Since then, weekly protests against Netanyahu have been held every Saturday evening outside Mandelblit’s Petah Tikva residence, with demonstrators claiming that the attorney general has been too lenient with the prime minister, citing the drawn-out process.

The protests were kickstarted by Menny Naftali, a former caretaker at the prime minister’s official residence, who was awarded NIS 170,000 (about $43,735) in damages in February after a labor court accepted his claims of mistreatment by Sara Netanyahu during his employment.

Subsequently, graffiti on Mandeblit’s home was noticed by neighbors and passersby, reading “jail for the corrupt,” “collaborator” and “champagnes”– a reference to one of the Netanyahu investigations for allegedly accepting expensive gifts from US businessmen, with the word juxtaposed next to a dollar sign.

In response, the security branch of the Justice Ministry has significantly increased Mandelblit’s security detail. A permanent security guard was posted outside of his home in addition to other unspecified security measures.

On Saturday night, 20 protesters, including Naftali, were detained after trying to breach a police barrier preventing them from reaching the attorney general’s home.

Present at the demonstration, along with 100 others, were Zionist Union MKs Mickey Rosenthal, Erel Margalit and Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin.

“The right to demonstrate is a basic right and we, as elected officials, will not be able to stand idly by as it is harmed,” Nachmias-Verbin told Ynet.

The attorney general is overseeing the inquiry into Netanyahu, who is suspected of illicitly accepting gifts from wealthy benefactors and taking actions on their behalf in a graft investigation dubbed Case 1000.

In leaked transcripts of recordings from a second investigation, known as Case 2000, Netanyahu is heard holding negotiations with the publisher of the Yedioth Aharonoth daily, Arnon Mozes, on possible legislation to hobble the Sheldon Adelson-controlled Israel Hayom paper in exchange for more favorable coverage from Yedioth. Netanyahu denies all the charges against him.