As trial nears, Netanyahu’s associates go after attorney general
Loyalists of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have ramped up their attacks on the legal system and mudslinging against Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.
10 days after his scheduled swearing in as Israel’s 35th prime minister, on May 24, Benjamin Netanyahu is due to walk into the Jerusalem District Court for the reading of his criminal indictment. The cover page of the thick volume reads, “The State of Israel v. Benjamin Netanyahu.” Its appendix includes the names of some 300 witnesses. The charges: bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The historic indictment, the first against an incumbent Israeli prime minister, bears the signature of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.
Nonetheless, in the court of public opinion, Netanyahu has already made his accuser out as the accused. A wave of mudslinging is turning Mandelblit from state prosecutor to defendant, at least in the eyes of Netanyahu’s acolytes. Calls are growing for Mandelblit’s suspension or at least a criminal probe into his actions, both virtually impossible under Israeli law. Reports of alleged wrongdoing by Mandelblit and anyone linked to Netanyahu’s prosecution are flooding the media. Netanyahu’s emissaries and his many outspoken defenders are busy impugning Mandelblit 24/7.
