PM’s wife accuses AG of ‘terrorizing Israeli democracy’ with probe into her conduct

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara accused the attorney general and state prosecutor of pursuing a politically motivated investigation aimed at harming her husband after the pair ordered police to launch an investigation into her alleged attempts to intimidate a witness in the premier’s criminal corruption trial.

“It is clear that there is a desire to… invent offenses with the clear intention of harming a sitting prime minister through improper means… in order to terrorize Israeli democracy,” wrote Sara Netanyahu’s attorney Oriel Chur Nizri in a letter to Gali Baharav-Miara and Amit Aisman, which was leaked to the media on Saturday.

The letter was titled as a warning letter ahead of legal action, but the letter’s content didn’t include such a threat, and consisted primarily of a collection of political arguments against the probe sounded by the premier’s supporters in the media and social media, with few actual legal arguments.

In any case, Israeli law doesn’t provide for individuals to sue the heads of the law enforcement system for considering a probe into their alleged wrongdoing.

On Thursday, Baharav-Miara and Aisman ordered police to investigate Sara Netanyahu after a recent investigative report indicated she had ordered Hanni Bleiweiss, her husband’s late aide, to orchestrate protests and an online campaign against Hadas Klein.

Klein is the former secretary for the Netanyahus’ benefactor Arnon Milchan and a key witness in the case alleging Netanyahu illicitly received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cigars, champagne and jewelry — much of it allegedly at Sara Netanyahu’s request.

In the letter to the attorney general and state prosecutor, Sara Netanyahu’s attorney accused the pair of engaging in a “hunting expedition as part of an ugly campaign” to influence the ongoing trial against the premier.”

Nizri claimed the top state attorneys have gone beyond just “selective enforcement” and have now entered “a situation in which what is not criminal becomes criminal and what is criminal is not investigated.”

To make his argument, Sara Netanyahu’s attorney pointed to state prosecutors’ refusal to open similar investigations into the threats from top military reservists that they would not show up for duty if the Netanyahu government continued advancing its controversial plan to radically overhaul the Israeli judicial system last year.

The reservists argued that they were acting within their democratic rights and that they did not hesitate to enlist after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

For his part, Nizri argued that Baharav-Miara and Aisman made their decision to order a probe into Sara Netanyahu solely based on the “Uvda” investigative report.

Klein was among dozens of people who filed police complaints against Sara Netanyahu following the airing of the expose.

The “scoundrel” Klein, Sara Netanyahu reportedly wrote to Bleiweiss, had “smeared us for years, lied, slandered.” Language similar to Netanyahu’s message featured soon thereafter in social media posts against Klein, “Uvda” said.

The TV program’s exposé relied on internal communications between Netanyahu and Bleiweiss. The latter died of cancer in 2023, and the investigative program gained access to her phone.

Channel 12 news reported Thursday that the planned investigation into Sara Netanyahu would be handled by Lahav 433, the police’s serious crimes unit. A police source cited by Haaretz said law enforcement would seek access to Bleiweiss’s phone, and possibly also Sara Netanyahu’s. The source was cited saying Netanyahu would likely be interrogated, but not in the short term.

Channel 12 reported on Friday that the State Prosecutor’s Office has appointed the head of its cyber department as its point person for the investigation into Sara Netanyahu’s alleged misdeeds. The appointment appears to indicate that the probe would focus on Netanyahu’s cellphone communications.

In a brief statement Thursday that did not mention Netanyahu by name, Baharav-Miara and Aisman said she should be investigated on suspicion of witness tampering and obstruction of justice. “An investigation must be opened into the suspected harassment of a witness and obstruction of justice in the course of the [prime minister’s] trial given the findings of the program ‘Uvda’,” the legal officials’ statement said.

The announcement, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies were quick to condemn, came hours after the premier himself posted a four-minute video tirade against the media for spreading a “blood libel” about his wife.

According to Haaretz, Aisman and Baharav-Miara had both discussed the potential probe into Netanyahu due to her high public profile, and both supported the move. The outlet also said a police officer tasked with reviewing the “Uvda” report has also supported opening an investigation.

Calls from Netanyahu’s coalition to remove Baharav-Miara from her position have grown in recent weeks because of the attorney general’s supposed role in preventing government policies from being implemented.