PM: Phone confiscation is an attack on democracy

Likud’s spokesman says police looked at material on his phone not related to Case 4000

During an interrogation regarding the possible harassment of Case 4000 state’s witness Shlomo Filber, investigators confiscated his phone, looked at conversations unrelated to the investigation and sent information to a Telegram channel related to the case, says Likud spokesman Jonathan Urich, Channel 12 reported.

Urich wrote in a letter to Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit: “Police investigators have also been looking at correspondence from my phone about things that are unrelated to the investigation regarding [Shlomo] Filber; the investigator typed details into a group that deals with Case 4000 files,” Channel 12 reported.

According to Channel 12 reporter Moshe Nussbaum, Urich was asked to show investigators conversations between him and communications consultant Ofer Golan.

Urich reportedly did not know he had the right to refuse the investigator’s request and handed over his phone, allowing her to take it outside of the interrogation room, according to Channel 12. When the investigator returned Urich’s phone, he noticed that messages unrelated to the investigation were opened and claims she wrote details based on information from his phone into a Telegram channel called “Completion of Case 4000.”

“The confiscation of our advisers’ phones is an attack on Israeli democracy and every citizen’s right to privacy,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted following Urich’s claim.

On Monday, the Israel Police and the Justice Ministry released a joint statement explaining that an order requested from the court allowing a search of cellular phones confiscated from senior officials from the Likud Party’s headquarters was only for a limited search with the sole intention of finding information relevant to the incident about which the investigation is focused on. The judge will carry out the search for relevant material if possible and not the investigators.

“Contrary to mistaken publications, the search order being discussed will be focused strictly on finding information relevant to the investigation,” read the statement. The police clarified that the confiscated phones will only be opened with permission and an order from a court, according to Maariv.

Earlier Monday morning, attorney Dror Arad Ayalon, who represents Filber, responded to the announcement by the police about the investigation of the Likud officials.

“Filber didn’t feel harassed at the time and not even after the fact,” he said in an interview with Army Radio. “The demonstration in front of his house isn’t different from any other protest in front of the homes of functionaries.”

Netanyahu’s office released a statement on the investigation, stating: “The persecution does not stop for a moment.”

The statement continued, “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.”

Yonah Jeremy Bob, Tamar Beeri and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.