Barak attacks A-G for considering not to indict Netanyahu on case 2000

The Likud filed a complaint Saturday night against Ehud Barak for disruption of legal proceedings, claiming that his comments were a clear attempt of extortion.

FEBRUARY 25, 2019 04:10

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST) — Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit

(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak attacked Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit on Saturday, claiming he was whitewashing criminal investigations against the Netanyahu family.

“Mandelblit is inclined not to file an indictment against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu based on Case 2000, contrary to the position of senior Justice Ministry officials, although the decision could still change,” Channel 13 News reported on Friday.

Barak said that if – contrary to the recommendation of the State Attorney’s Office and police investigators – Mandelblit tries to close Case 2000, which involves an alleged quid pro quo agreement between Netanyahu and Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon Mozes, then “a state commission of inquiry will be required... if the High Court does not intervene.”

אם מנדלבליט ינסה לסגור את תיק 2000 בניגוד להמלצת *כל* אנשי הפרקליטות *וכל* חוקרי המשטרה (חוץ מנזרי ואייסמן) תהיה לפנינו ראיה חזקה להעדר קיצוני של נקיון דעת. אם בגצ לא יתערב תידרש ועדת חקירה ממלכתית. אדם לא ראוי. הוא כבר מרח כך את תיקי המעונות. חרפה ובזיון. מנדלבליט - נא להתעשת! pic.twitter.com/xOOYQVLXwn
— אהוד ברק (@barak_ehud) February 23, 2019

The former prime minister also called Mandelblit “unworthy,” “a disgrace,” and concluded by calling upon the attorney-general to “come to [his] senses.”

Barak has publicly attacked Mandelblit since the Harpaz Affair, which went on for more than four years. That case was an alleged plot by Boaz Harpaz to illegally undermine then-defense minister Barak’s choice of Yoav Galant to succeed Gabi Ashkenazi as IDF chief of staff, as part of a battle between Barak and Ashkenazi that allegedly involved spying and spreading misinformation about the other.

The Likud filed a complaint on Saturday night against Barak for the disruption of legal proceedings, claiming his comments were a clear attempt at extortion.

It is understood that Mandelblit does plan to indict Netanyahu in case 1000, the so-called “illegal gifts affair,” and case 4000, the “Bezeq-Walla affair.”