Two men grilled over vandalism to grave of AG’s father

Two people were released Sunday afternoon after police questioned them for several hours in connection with a recent act of vandalism that targeted the grave of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s father.

Both suspects were let go without charges after being interviewed at the police’s serious crime unit in Lod. One of the suspects was Oren Simon, a key figure in weekly protests outside Mandelblit’s home in Petah Tikva, where demonstrators have called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be indicted for corruption.

Speaking to Channel 13 news following his release, Simon said that after first questioning him about the crime, police then asked him if had information about anyone else who might have carried out the attack. He also condemned the vandalism and rejected it, saying it was an illegitimate form of protest.

After it was first reported that a suspect was being questioned by police, Netanyahu wrote on his Twitter account that Mandelblit should not give in to pressure from those demanding indictments.

“For three years already, the left-wingers have been demonstrating every week outside the attorney general’s home,” he wrote. “Now a suspect is being questioned because they desecrated his father’s grave. Insane thuggish pressure to file an indictment against me at any price. One can only hope that the attorney general won’t cave in to this tremendous pressure.”

Police have already recommended that Netanyahu be indicted for bribery in all three of the cases against him, and it is now up to Mandelblit to make a final decision on pressing charges.

The attorney general has been pressured both by Netanyahu supporters, who want him to close the cases, and by opponents of the prime minister, who accuse him of stalling on an indictment.

Earlier this month, vandals sprayed graffiti along Israel’s coastal highway calling Mandelblit a “collaborator.”

Netanyahu, who has been in office since 2009, has denied wrongdoing and portrays the graft cases as part of a conspiracy against him encompassing left-wing activists, the media and law enforcement officials.

One of the probes relates to gifts Netanyahu received from billionaire benefactors and the other two cases involve suspected quid pro quos he is suspected to have provided or considered providing in exchange for favorable media coverage.

Mandelblit discovered the vandalism to his father’s tombstone when he visited his mother’s grave on the anniversary of her death, Hebrew media reported in December.

The attorney general immediately updated police that the tombstone of his father, Baruch, had been smashed with a heavy tool, likely a hammer, the reports said.

Netanyahu condemned the vandalism as “a shocking act that should be unequivocally condemned.”

Mandelblit’s security detail has been expanded, with officials linking the added security to police intelligence on possible threats against him, Channel 10 news reported in December.

The decision to boost security for Mandelblit was made prior to the gravestone incident, the TV report said.