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As indictment deadline approaches, Netanyahu panics

The perfect storm is approaching: Not only will Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit decide soon whether or not to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leaks from police questioning of Yair Netanyahu make the picture even darker.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he speaks during a memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers killed in the 1973 Middle East War at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem October 10, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC164B9F1A90
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The all-out war being waged these days by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political messengers and Israel’s law enforcement authorities exceeds all expectations and the most daring scenarios imagined in recent months.

The issue is not only the justice minister’s unprecedented broadside against the country’s law enforcement system. The minister, Amir Ohana, a surprising, puzzling personal appointment by Netanyahu to his transition government, is particularly close to the prime minister’s son, Yair Netanyahu. In his Oct. 29 attack, Ohana did not merely criticize the system under his tutelage, he set out to crush it. Never has an Israeli government minister lashed out with such ferocity against a department and officials under his responsibility, including personal attacks and undermining credibility and motivations in an attempt to call into question the legitimacy of one of the country’s most important systems of governance. This week’s clash between the justice minister and law enforcement authorities brings to mind the war between President Donald Trump and the US legal and intelligence establishment, in Israeli dimensions, of course.

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