High court rejects petitions regarding PM investigation
Petitions filed against various decisions made during investigation into Prime Minister Netanyahu's alleged wrongdoing and Attorney General Mandelblit's alleged conflict of interest were rejected by the High Court of justice.
The High Court of Justice rejected several petitions on Thursday regarding the investigations involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's involvement in them.
The petitions claimed that the investigations were drawn out, were characterized by foot-dragging, and that some decisions were made without any explanation as to why.
In addition, the petitions claim that Mandelblit should recuse himself of the investigations for his conflict of interest due to his former position as cabinet secretary.
The state has claimed that there is no legitimacy to the petitions, and that they are an "attempt to de-legitimize the attorney general and the prosecution, and that all the information will be revealed to the public at the end of the investigations, with explanations given if needed."
The petitions, served by MK Erel Margalit (Labor) and attorney Eldad Yaniv, were rejected. The judges stated in their decision that "we are aware that some of the petitions come from political figures in opposition to the prime minister. This is not forbidden, and is considered with the same considerations and care that other public petitions require.
"Furthermore, we believe that one should not take part in de-legitimizing the enforcement agency, which is professional and has a long history of objective judgment. It is not immune to criticism, las none of us are, but we have found no evidence of wrongdoing."
The High Court added that "This is a complicated mechanism, starting with the attorney general and the state prosecutor and the senior officials in their offices and ending with the attorneys and officers that handle the investigation.
"We do not believe that decisions (by the investigators) which are not weighed and are not fitting could easily be made and 'escape under the radar,' which are more professional and public than that. To err is human, but there is a long way to go before we can consciously besmirch them."
