Skip to main content

Likud supporters behind Netanyahu, blame police for persecution

For Likud supporters, the affair of state witness Nir Hefetz only proves once again that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being persecuted by the police.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to the media after reviewing an exhibition by the Israeli Air Force at the Palmachim Air Force Base near the city of Rishon LeZion in central Israel October 27, 2019. Abir Sultan/Pool via REUTERS - RC1D3C0793A0
Read in 

When Justice Minister Amir Ohana ascended to the Knesset dais Nov. 6 with a sheet of paper in hand, no one present attributed any importance to what seemed like a routine event. As they quickly learned, he would be dropping a bombshell. Much to everybody’s shock, the justice minister took advantage of his parliamentary immunity to give a detailed account of the unusual methods used by police interrogators against Nir Hefetz, a state witness in the case against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A court had placed a gag order on the information, yet Ohana was sharing it from the Knesset dais on live TV. In so doing, despite the gag order, he was revealing intimate details about Nir Hefetz’s personal life and the life of someone close to him.

Ohana did this just a few weeks before Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced his decision in the various criminal cases involving Netanyahu. It was his attempt to prove what he and the prime minister have long believed: Netanyahu will not receive a fair trial, because Israel’s law enforcement agencies are waging a malicious campaign against him.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.