Just 48 hours after the commander of Israel’s FBI, Menashe Arbiv announced he is stepping down from the police force after 36 years of public service; Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has serious decisions to make. The prosecutor assigned to the case, Eli Schwartz, told his boss he wishes to step down from the case in apparent disgust over a decision to cut a deal with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, to make him into the star state witness. It remains to be seen if the state prosecutor and attorney general will permit Schwartz to resign from the case as he is regarded a senior prosecutor with a wealth of experience prosecuting corruption cases.

Arbiv feels that as one who has given his entire life since age 18 to the nation, he should be the one working with the prosecution, for he is innocent. He cannot understand why the attorney general is interested in working with Pinto to establish that he, Arbiv, is guilty of law-breaking.

Arbiv is quoted in the daily Yediot Achronot saying “I am only sorry about one thing. It was a motzei Shabbos three years ago. I was having a personal crisis and a friend told me about Rabbi Pinto, advising that I consult with him. I am sorry that I went and that I ever met with the man. I never broke the law, never violated protocol and I was never insubordinate” laments Arbiv, who is seeking to understand how Israel’s judicial system seems to have turned its back on him, the former commander of the elite Israel Police 433 Investigation Unit.

Yediot continues, quoting Arbiv stating that from his perspective, he expects to see serious criminal indictments filed against Rabbi Pinto, pointing out the draft indictments are already prepared.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)