It is indeed a sad day for Israel. The indictment issued by the attorney-general against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu includes charges of bribery – this should not be taken lightly. Attorney General Avicahai Mendelblit didn't truly have any other choice. Any decision to close the case or remove the bribery charge would have triggered – and even necessitated – the resignation of prosecutors for wasting millions of shekels while waging a tendentious and shoddy investigation.
The cooperation between the police, prosecution and media outlets achieved its intended goal. Subject to immunity provisions, it's possible he will eventually be indicted. The decision after the court hears the case isn't what's interesting.
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Mendelblit, State Attorney Shai Nitzan and attorney Liat Ben-Ari, similar to senior police officers, will have different jobs in a few years when the court proceedings eventually conclude. They won't have to answer questions that will most certainly be difficult and embarrassing.
Despite Mendelblit's explanation about his decision-making process, I cannot shake the troubling feeling that political interests, arrogance and megalomania, self-righteousness and false purism came together to show the public exactly who is running the country.
There's no more need for ballot boxes. In contravention of proper democracy, these decisions are being made in the interrogation rooms and State's Attorney's offices. Law enforcement officials lent an evil, wicked hand to news outlets, feeding them an endless diet of leaks.
On a nightly basis, Israeli citizens were bombarded with investigation transcripts, tendentious reports and background information, with the one and only intention of performing a targeted assassination against Netanyahu's political career and convicting him in the city square. They were certain Netanyahu would sink and drown, but when the submarine affair didn't work they transitioned to Case 4000, hoping the fiber-optic cables would do the trick.
In court, the prosecution must prove guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt. When it pertains to Netanyahu, the law-enforcement system stripped him of his fundamental right to the presumption of innocence and trampled the principle of human dignity. Shai Nitzan and his cohort, in the name of holding everyone accountable to the law equally, took their crusade to the city squares and streets. Together with the press they tried, sentenced and executed the prime minister.
Only recently new facts have emerged about the manner in which state's witnesses were recruited. The police imported investigation techniques from the Shin Bet security agency. Confidants of Netanyahu were extorted under threat and made to turn state's witnesses. Everything was made kosher for the purpose of incriminating the prime minister, all while turning a blind eye to allegedly criminal acts. This includes ignoring the bizarre letter Nitzan sent to the judges presiding over the very same court where the prime minister's case was to be heard. No less astonishing was the justice system's refusal to investigate alleged transgressions committed by its own people.
The prime minister, like any other citizen, has the right to be presumed innocent. All those who espouse the rule of law from their lofty heights must also internalize that there are clear laws regarding immunity and special legislation pertaining to the prime minister. And the law specifically states that a prime minister under indictment does not have to resign.
An indictment against the prime minister raises profound legal and evidentiary questions. We can only hope the prime minister fights for his innocence. If Netanyahu surrenders, those who follow in his wake will also be under threat of indictment if their conduct isn't viewed favorably by interested parties in the prosecution and media. The Fifth Dimension, arms deals, sexual offenses, and other matters of real estate will pop up immediately. If we don't defend democracy, it won't defend us.
