MK Betzalel Smotrich of the United Right-Wing party appealed to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit for what he describes as an attempt to fabricate a case against him because of his candidacy for the position of justice minister. In his letter, MK Smotrich calls for an immediate investigation into a false and tendentious leak by officials in the State Prosecutor’s Office or the police.

“I received a letter from Ayelet Fishbein today, referring to the agreement signed in 2014 between the Regavim movement, which I had the right to be among its founders, and the consulting firm Tara, owned by Mr. Oved Yechezkel, to prepare a proposal for specific operation in Nazareth Illit.”

“Let’s start from the end. This agreement was only in the hands of Regavim and the company of Tara, and my investigation today shows that it reached the hands of the police and the State Attorney’s Office as part of an investigation in which Oved Yechezkel was involved. Simply put, since neither Regavim nor Tara has any interest in harming me, the document was leaked to a reporter from the police or the State Prosecutor’s Office in an attempt to blacken me and perhaps even to initiate an ‘investigation’ that would prevent my appointment to the justice minister until it is closed.

“This leak joins a non-democratic campaign led by ‘senior officials’ in the Justice Ministry in the media against the appointment.

“I believe that there is no need to elaborate on the gravity of the matter and the need not to allow them in any way in a democratic state. There is nothing more damaging to the public’s trust in the law enforcement agencies than the behavior, which cannot be called other than criminal; of officials in the system who do justice to themselves and seek to thwart a legitimate and democratic appointment of a public official to serve as a minister in the Israeli government.

In light of the severity of the events and the timing of their execution, I ask you to order the use of all the necessary means to carry out a thorough investigation that will locate the leak and lead to prosecution and to the full extent of the law.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)