A representative of the Justice Ministry who was sent to the office of attorney Navot Tel-Tzur, who serves as attorney for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, returned investigative material from the Justice Ministry after refusing to accept the said material.

A letter from the Attorney General was attached to the material, which was then sent by e-mail. Following the conduct, Mandelblit’s office said that the refusal was puzzling, and that the legal advisor would consider his steps accordingly.

In his letter, the Attorney General replied to the prime minister’s defense lawyers from their letter last week, in which they announced that the prime minister was interested in holding a hearing and presented various requests regarding the investigation materials.

In his reply, the Attorney General stated that he saw great importance in holding the hearing, and, as has been said more than once, as long as the procedure actually takes place, he intends to carry it out with an open heart and a willing soul.

In their letter, the defense attorneys requested that a new timetable be set for the hearing, which corresponds to your assessment of the time needed for proper preparation for the proceeding.

For this purpose, the Attorney General clarified that there is great difficulty in claiming the large volume of material or the time required to study it when it is claimed by a person who has chosen for such a lengthy period not to receive the investigation material and to begin reading it. However, it is understood that the defense attorneys may make numerous requests in connection with the hearing, and these matters will be considered on their merits, taking into consideration the totality of the circumstances, as was done by the prosecution as a matter of routine.

In order to advance the process of hearing the investigation files in question, in relation to each of the suspects, the core of the investigation material collected was copied onto magnetic media, in order to facilitate the orientation of suspects in the investigation material and to save time during the copying of the materials.

The magnetic media, which has been transferred to the other suspects some time ago, according to their request, is now also attached to the letter of the Attorney General, for the Prime Minister’s review.

In his letter, Attorney Mandelblit writes that in light of all the above, and when the core of the investigation material was transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office, they were asked to schedule a hearing within eight days from that time.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)