Channels

Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg
Netanyahu's lawyer, David Shimron. Thus do they all?
Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg
Shimon Shiffer

Netanyahu's security guards must speak up

Op-ed: Generations of security personnel have been exposed to insane, unethical incidents, bordering on criminal, in the prime minister's homes and trips abroad; law enforcement authorities should make them provide a firsthand testimony of what they saw.

Attorney David Shimron should be registered as a leading candidate for the torch-lighting ceremony on Israel's next Independence Day thanks to his passionate devotion to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara and his attempts to ward off the criticism leveled at them in the past few days.

 

 

He shows up at television studios, where he is beaten time and again in front of the nation, presenting plenty of arguments aimed at refuting any suspicion of unethical, immoral and perhaps even criminal conduct of the prime minister.

 

One of the claims which Shimron repeats every time is particularly outrageous: His suggestion that the state comptroller and attorney general conduct an across-the-board review of the expenses in the residences of all former heads of state.

 

Shimron is mainly alluding to the huge sums which were spent on former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's security and the expenses of the President's Residence during Shimon Peres' term. The public, he says, should get a real idea which could be compared between Netanyahu's predecessors before judging his client.

 

It reminds me of a nice opera composed by Mozart: "Così fan tutte" ("Thus Do They All"). Women, according to the moral of this opera, are all treacherous and unfaithful to their loved ones. Therefore, we are asked to forget and forgive the disloyalties around us.

 

In other words, Netanyahu's lawyer is suggesting that everyone steals, everyone sinned, and everyone – not just Netanyahu – was not ashamed to dip his hands in the public coffers.

 

Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu. 'Security guards have a civil duty not to remain silent' (Photo: AP)
Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu. 'Security guards have a civil duty not to remain silent' (Photo: AP)

 

I wouldn’t be raising this issue if I hadn't run into people on the street who got the message. "What do you want from Netanyahu?" I was asked on Monday. "Didn't Moshe Dayan, for example, steal antiquities? Everyone steals."

 

Well, it's possible that there were senior officials in the governmental system in the past who sinned, but that doesn’t let Bibi off the hook, and it's definitely not his lawyer's business to direct the authorities' attention to acts committed by his predecessors.

 

The late Sharon cannot respond to Bibi's associates. The decision to fortify his Sycamore Ranch in southern Israel for millions of shekels was made by the Shin Bet and other organizations which were exposed to reliable information about Palestinians' intention to hurt Sharon.

 

Peres, may he live long, didn't ask for anything and didn't pocket huge sums. Now it's Bibi's time to be examined and reviewed by the state comptroller and even by the police. He serves as prime minister and the attention should be directed at him and only at him.

 

After Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's murder, security guards from the Shin Bet's VIP security unit were required to testify before the state commission of inquiry chaired by former Supreme Court President Meir Shamgar. It turned out that they don't enjoy the right not to testify under oath about what they were exposed to before the murder.

 

Generations of security guards have been exposed to insane, unethical incidents, bordering on criminal, during the years they guarded the Netanyahu family. The law enforcement authorities should therefore force those in charge of the security, in the past and in the present, to provide a firsthand testimony of what they saw and experienced in what they refer to as "the cuckoo's nest" on Jerusalem's Balfour Street, in the private house in Caesarea and during their trips with Netanyahu around the world.

 

This civil duty overrides any other duty based on which they are using their right to remain silent.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.03.15, 23:59
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment