PM’s pre-indictment hearings conclude after 10 hours
The fourth and final day of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-indictment hearings before Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit came to a close after around 10 hours.
Mandelblit is expected to decide whether to issue a final indictment against the prime minister before December 15, when State Attorney Shai Nitzan steps down, but there have been some reports that the decision could come down even as early as next month.
These hearings over Case 4000 (the Bezeq-Walla Affair), Case 1000 (the Illegal Gifts Affair) and Case 2000 (the Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom Affair) are Netanyahu’s last opportunity to head off a final indictment decision.
The attorney-general heard arguments from Netanyahu’s legal team about Case 4000 during the first three days, while the third and fourth days were mostly focused on Cases 2000 and 1000.
There were contradicting leaks throughout the hearings on whether Netanyahu’s lawyers had surprised Mandelblit with new arguments, or whether they had just presented alibis and alternate narratives to how the prosecution viewed the prime minister’s actions.
Besides the switch from Case 4000 to Case 1000, a controversy developed on Sunday over the absence of the prosecution team’s lead lawyer, Liat Ben-Ari.
The Justice Ministry confirmed that Ben-Ari had prior commitments, which was the reason she was absent.
However, Ben-Ari is the lioness of the prosecution who convicted former prime minister Ehud Olmert, and as lead prosecutor for the case, it was unprecedented for her to miss such a key hearing.
While the ministry downplayed her absence by noting that her staff and Mandelblit – the ultimate arbiter – were present, her absence could have much greater significance.
Ben-Ari had recommended that Mandelblit indict Netanyahu for bribery in all three cases, but the attorney-general overruled her, announcing an intent to charge for bribery only in Case 4000, while charging the more minor offenses of breach of trust in Cases 1000 and 2000.
Since Sunday and Monday were the days for hearing Netanyahu’s lawyers’ arguments for Cases 1000 and 2000, it could appear that either BenAri is uninterested in their arguments on those cases, or that she and Mandelblit have such large disagreements about those cases that she found a reason to absent herself.
If any of these scenarios are true, it could impact how the legal establishment, Netanyahu’s team, and any later court perceive Mandelblit’s final decision.
Netanyahu’s lawyers lashed out at Ben-Ari on Sunday night, saying it showed that she was not giving them a chance at the pre-indictment hearings.
The prime minister’s lawyers have also rejected any talk of a plea bargain throughout, though Netanyahu’s former lawyer, Jacob Weinroth, now deceased, had likely explored this path at a much earlier stage.