Gov't to High Court: Reject petition that seeks to bar Mandelblit from PM investigations

In response to a petition filed in the High Court in which Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit should recuse himself from the investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to his being a Cabinet Secretary prior to becoming AG, the government has said that Mandelblit was apointed on the basis of his "professional background" and that the appointment has nothing to do with politics. Therefore, according to the government, there is no basis to the claim that he should be forbidden from carrying out investigations into the PM.