Judging by Nir Hefetz, the former journalist who serves as the Netanyahu family spokesman, the State of Israel is in big trouble. On Dec. 25, Hefetz appeared on Channel 2's prime time evening news. He was invited to the show to respond to allegations that the attorney general had been pressured to shelve numerous investigation files concerning the Netanyahu family (such as the Bibitours affair, travel expenditures, the Bottlegate affair, an electrician's visit to the premier's residence on Yom Kippur and garden furniture misappropriated for the premier's private home).

Hefetz said, “If Netanyahu is shunted aside, the State of Israel will probably have to give up many strategic assets.” The way the prime minister has been handling himself indicates that Hefetz was expressing the views of his boss and of the Netanyahu household. In the premier's official residence on Jerusalem's Balfour Street and at the family villa in Caesarea, Netanyahu is considered one of a kind, indispensable. Not just a man; an asset. Up to now, the term “strategic asset” was reserved for what foreign sources call Israel’s “nuclear deterrence” at that secret installation in the town of Dimona. Any attempt to raise the curtain covering the reactor is deemed gravely harmful to a strategic asset. Ask Mordechai Vanunu.

Netanyahu’s inner circle wants to hammer home the message that the people of Israel should be thanking God for deigning to crown this special man as their ruler. Such an asset must be protected at all costs. He must be insulated against anything that might distract him from his sacred toil in the service of his people. How many prime ministers in democratic states are willing to take on not only their own job but also to assume responsibility for the Foreign Ministry as well as the ministries of Communications, Economy and Regional Development? How many world leaders manage to dedicate their energies, talents and time to political wheeling and dealing to maintain control of their party’s institutions?

If he could do so legally, Netanyahu would also appoint himself attorney general. By so doing, he would become immune to harassment by police investigators and state prosecutors. The attorney general is the only person who does not answer to the prime minister. He is empowered to order the indictment of the prime minister or the closing of a case bearing his name. The only institution authorized to overturn the attorney general's decisions is the Supreme Court.