Netanyahu's PR appeals decision to let police hack their phones in probe

Effectively, the court said that the police had violated procedure, but that substantively they still had a right to review the cellphone's content due to the charges.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Shlomo Filber, the suspended director-general of the Communications Ministry, waits for his remand hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on February 18, 2018 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Shlomo Filber, the suspended director-general of the Communications Ministry, waits for his remand hearing at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on February 18, 2018
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Ofer Golan and Yonatan Orich, top spokespeople for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, filed an appeal on Thursday against a lower court decision to allow the police to hack their cell phones to prove that they tried to intimidate a state’s witness against the prime minister.
Though the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court previously criticized the police’s conduct of reviewing some of the cellphones of persons in Netanyahu’s public relations apparatus without advising them that they could refuse the police request or a prior court order, the court approved the police follow up request to review the cell phones more fully.
The court effectively said that the police had violated procedure, but that substantively they still had a right to review the cell phone’s content due to the charges against Golan, Orich and others. The spokesmen allegedly tried to intimidate Shlomo Filber from continuing to cooperate with police against Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s top public relations people allegedly sent staff members with a megaphone to drive past Filber’s house broadcasting intimidating messages designed to get him to recant his accusations that Netanyahu perpetrated bribery in Case 4000, the Bezeq-Walla Affair.
Lawyer Amit Hadad, who represents both Netanyahu’s top spokespeople and the prime minister, filed the appeal to the Tel Aviv District Court arguing that allowing the police to review the cell phones after the police violated his clients’ rights would be highly problematic.
Hadad said this would send a message to police that they can ignore suspects’ rights and then fix their violations afterward by obtaining a court order.
The prosecution is expected to indict Netanyahu in the coming weeks.