Likud officials investigated for harassing state witness in PM case,
Likud Party campaign officials are under investigation for allegedly harassing state witness Shlomo Filber, who is testifying in Case 4000 against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Filber, a former aide to Netanyahu, was reportedly harassed by Likud activists, who had the driver of a vehicle with a PA system attached drive past his home in Petah Tikva and make negative statements against Filber for being a state witness against Netanyahu.
State-Attorney Shai Nitzan and Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit approved of the investigation into the harassment claim.
Netanyahu’s office released a statement on the investigation, stating: “The persecution does not stop for a moment... The ink on the 1,000-page defense, which the prime minister’s lawyers submitted in the hearing, has not yet dried and already, the entire immediate surroundings of the prime minister are being investigated.”
The prime minister’s comment claimed that the goal of the complaint is to neutralize Netanyahu’s ability to fight “public opinion” against a series of leaks against him that harm him and his associates.
Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, released a statement about the complaint as well, saying that the allegations are “baseless” and that “it would be better if they are not investigated at all.”
The statement said that although the attorney, who, according to him, was one of the figures complained about, is not allowed to comment on the issue so as not to disrupt the investigation. “The investigation is being illegally leaked,” he said in the statement.
“We have no doubt that in the end, the case against Mr. Golan will be closed for one simple reason: he has never harassed state witness Filber or any other witness,” the statement concluded.
According to Case 4000, Netanyahu fired Communications Ministry director-general Avi Berger and then hired Filber to ensure that government policies favored Bezeq company owner, Shaul Elovitch.
In exchange, Bezeq’s news site, Walla, would give Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, positive coverage, arranged by Elovitch, his wife, former Netanyahu spokesman Nir Hefetz and several top employees of Walla.
Originally, this was considered to be a case of bribery in part, but Mandelblit is reportedly considering it to be a lighter crime, such as a breach of trust.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.