Likud officials investigated for harassing state witness

Likud activists allegedly harassed state witness Shlomo Filber.

By TAMAR URIEL-BEERI
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Likud Party campaign officials are under investigation for allegedly harassing state witness Shlomo Filber, who is testifying in Case 4000 against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Filber, a former aide to Netanyahu, was reportedly harassed by Likud activists, who had the driver of a vehicle with a PA system attached drive past his home in Petah Tikva and make negative statements against him for being a state witness against Netanyahu.
State-Attorney Shai Nitzan and Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit approved of the investigation into the harassment claim.
Netanyahu’s office released a statement on the investigation, stating: “The persecution does not stop for a moment.”
The statement said, “The ink on the 1,000-page defense, which the prime minister’s lawyers submitted in the hearing, has not yet dried – and already, the entire immediate surroundings of the prime minister are being investigated.”
The prime minister’s comment claimed that the goal of the complaint is to neutralize Netanyahu’s ability to fight “public opinion” against a series of leaks against him, which harm him and his associates.
Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, released a statement on the complaint as well, saying that the allegations are “baseless” and that “it would be better if they are not investigated at all.”
“We have no doubt that in the end, the case against Mr. Golan will be closed for one simple reason: He has never harassed state witness Filber or any other witness,” the statement concluded.
According to Case 4000, Netanyahu fired Communications Ministry director-general Avi Berger and hired Filber to ensure that government policies favored Bezeq company owner Shaul Elovitch.
In exchange, Bezeq’s news site Walla would give Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, positive coverage – arranged by Elovitch, his wife, Hefetz, and several top employees of Walla.
Originally, this was considered to be a case of bribery in part, but Mandelblit is reportedly considering it to be a lighter crime, such as a breach of trust.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.


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indictment
Case 4000