Police hit back against ‘baseless’ Netanyahu claim of leaking chief

The Israel police hit back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Saturday, saying his claim that the chief of police was behind a series of politically motivated leaks was “baseless.”

On Saturday night, Netanyahu suggested that Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich was responsible for leaking information to the media about criminal investigations into alleged corruption at the highest levels.

Hours later, a statement by police defended the professionalism of its work.

“We will not be dragged into baseless attacks meant to disrupt the work of the police and harm the legitimacy of the rule of law,” a statement provided to media read.

Several Netanyahu critics also slammed the prime minister for targeting the police, a body considered nearly as sacrosanct as the army by mainstream Israeli politicians.

“What started with artists, journalists and judges has now reached the police,” opposition leader Isaac Herzog wrote on Facebook. “Incitement and divisiveness, all for the interest of one man, at any price, even the cost of national unity and harming the symbols of the state and the rule of law.”

On Twitter, former prime minister Ehud Barak, also a strident Netanyahu critic, wrote that the attack on the police was the beginning of the end for him.

“Netanyahu is ready to burn the state on his way down. Despicable and dangerous persecution of state institutions. When the law threatens Bibi, Bibi threatens the law,” he wrote, using Netanyahu’s nickname.

The unprecedented tit-for-tat between Netanyahu and the police came after Channel 2 news reported that police investigators were expected to summon Netanyahu for further questioning in the graft probes against him.

“When Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich assumed his post, he made two important decisions: that there would be no more leaks in the investigations and there would be no more police recommendations [for indictment],” read a statement released by Netanyahu family spokesman Ofer Golan.

“But since Lior Horev was appointed to be the police’s external political adviser at the cost of millions [of shekels] of taxpayer money and without a public tender for the position, the illegal leaks have become a tsunami, and the decision to avoid recommendations [for indictment] disappeared as a result,” the statement added.

Horev is a veteran political operative who has served as media adviser to a number of high-profile politicians, including the late former prime minister Ariel Sharon. He was hired by the police as a media adviser in March 2016 to the tune of 800,000 shekels a year, a few months after Alsheich was appointed as commissioner by Netanyahu.

Despite public outcry at the high salary, including a hearing on the appointment in the Knesset’s Interior Affairs Committee, Horev’s contract was extended for a further three years this March.

The Channel 2 news report Saturday night claimed that police are deepening their investigations into the actions of the prime minister and that he will be summoned for questioning in the two investigations against him, cases 1000 and 2000, in next two weeks.

Case 1000 relates to allegations that Netanyahu and his wife Sara received illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, most notably hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of cigars and champagne from the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid pro quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes that would have seen the prime minister weaken a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.

Investigators are also expected to set a date for Netanyahu to provide testimony as a witness in Case 3000, which involves alleged corruption in the sale of German submarines to Israel by several associates of the prime minister, the report said.

Netanyahu, who has denied any wrongdoing, has increasingly lashed out at the media of late amid developments in the cases, accusing the press of playing up the investigations against him in order to end his premiership and devoting an inordinate amount of attention to weekly protests near Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s home in Petah Tikva calling for the prime minister to be indicted.

“The public knows that there is an obvious media witch hunt against Prime Minister Netanyahu. As has happened in the past, all the accusations against the prime minister will be proved as false, and nothing will come of them,” the PMO statement read Saturday.

If police do summon Netanyahu for further interrogation, it will be the first time in seven months that Netanyahu will be questioned regarding the probe. During this time, police have remained stoic on the progress of the investigations, offering few hints at any breakthroughs. There have been ongoing media reports, however, of the progress of the investigations.

While investigators have hinted that an indictment against the prime minister is likely, the road to such a scenario is still long and Netanyahu — by law — would still not be forced to resign even if law enforcement decided to take that route.

A police recommendation does not carry legal weight. It is for state prosecutors to decide whether to press charges.

In September, State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan responded to criticism that authorities were dragging their feet in the graft probes against the prime minister. He said that the investigations had been taking longer than police initially anticipated due to unforeseen developments in the cases, though he did not provide any further details.

Last month, Alsheich said that the coming year would be “complicated” in terms of the corruption cases involving Netanyahu and that police have been “leaving no stone unturned” in the investigations.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.