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September 2nd, 2020 
Awake Goy A top Likud minister accused Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit of seeking to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office.
“He acts like he’s wholly invested in Netanyahu’s political liquidation,” Public Security Minister Amir Ohana said Tuesday in an interview with Channel 12.
Ever since Mandelblit’s decision in January to indict the prime minister on graft charges, “all of [Mandelblit’s] prestige and his political future depend on Netanyahu’s conviction, and on liquidating him politically — because if he’s exonerated, Avichai Mandelblit won’t be able to remain in public life a single minute longer,” Ohana said.
“That would be a mark of disgrace that will never be erased from his forehead.”
That fear, Ohana alleged, was the reason Mandelblit allowed mass protests outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem in recent weeks, and opposed letting Netanyahu receive large sums of money from a cousin to fund his legal defense.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, speaks with then-Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, September 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Menahem Kahana, Pool)
“How can an attorney general who filed an indictment against a prime minister and is now both indicter and prosecutor [Mandelblit currently serves as acting state attorney] come within 100 meters of the decision [on] whether Netanyahu can fund his defense and how he should do it?” Ohana demanded.
“It’s clear that he has an interest in making it hard for him to fund his defense,” Ohana said, “so his defense is forced to limp along. That’s an inherent conflict of interest.”
Mandelblit rejected the claims on Tuesday, telling Channel 12 in a statement, “It’s very unfortunate that the minister for public security of the State of Israel speaks in this fashion. This is of course a ridiculous and baseless conspiracy theory that doesn’t have even the slightest basis in reality. It is therefore undeserving of a substantive response.”
The July decision to deny Netanyahu’s request for the funding was not made by Mandelblit, but by a committee in the State Comptroller’s Office that oversees gifts to senior public officials.
Spencer Partrich (Courtesy)
Netanyahu had asked the Permits Committee in the State Comptroller’s Office to allow him to receive a NIS 10 million ($2.9 million) donation from Spencer Partrich, a Michigan-based real estate magnate, to help fund his defense.
Because Partrich is also a witness in one of the cases, the committee had asked Mandelblit for his opinion on the matter.
In late June, Mandelblit told the committee he opposed Netanyahu’s request, saying the donation was tantamount to an illicit gift.
In a July 2 letter sent to Netanyahu’s attorneys, committee secretary Eden Bizman said that “given that the attorney general has ruled that the prime minister should not receive funding for his legal defense from Mr. Spencer Partrich, as a witness in the indictment; [given] the amount requested; and considering the nature of the relationship between the prime minister and Mr. Partrich, the request does not meet the rules for receiving a gift in accordance with the Gift Law.”
The committee also said it would not renew discussions on a retroactive request for Netanyahu to receive some $300,000 in funds for legal fees from his cousin Nathan Milikowski.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement before entering a courtroom at the Jerusalem District Court on May 24, 2020, for the start of his corruption trial. (Yonathan SINDEL / POOL / AFP)
Netanyahu’s trial on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes opened last month in a Jerusalem court. The accusations include accepting some $200,000 in gifts such as cigars and champagne from two billionaires, Hollywood-based Israeli movie mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian magnate James Packer.
Netanyahu is also accused of offering to push legislation benefiting powerful Israeli media moguls in exchange for more positive coverage in their publications.
He has said he is the victim of a wide-ranging conspiracy and called the allegations baseless, saying accepting gifts from friends isn’t a problem.
Netanyahu is widely believed to be a multimillionaire, thanks to bestselling books, real estate holdings and lucrative speaking fees while in the private sector.
Netanyahu has for decades socialized with the ultra-wealthy and his supporters say he has given up opportunities to amass great wealth to serve the country instead. But he and his wife have gained a reputation for enjoying the good life, repeatedly landing in hot water for inappropriate use of state funds.
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