Investigative Limits: Former AG Mandelblit Testifies on Police Scope

The Jerusalem District Court heard further testimony from former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit on Monday regarding the legal boundaries of the police investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The defense is using this testimony to challenge whether investigators adhered to the specific permissions Mandelblit granted them.

Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, focused on the preliminary examination that evolved into Case 1000. This case alleges that Netanyahu received substantial gifts from businessmen Arnon Milchan and James Packer and took actions to benefit Milchan. Hadad questioned whether investigators overstepped their authority when they interviewed Hadas Klein, Milchan’s assistant, and Yonatan Hasson, Packer’s driver, about the alleged gifts.

Mandelblit, who authorized the original investigations and signed off on the indictment, maintained that these interviews fell within his broader permission to examine suspicions of substantial benefits from businessmen. He stated that this permission remained in force and that investigators did not need to return to him for approval of each individual action taken during the process.

In testimony given on Sunday, Mandelblit discussed the wiretapping of Natan Eshel, a confidant of the prime minister. Although investigators had secured a court warrant, Mandelblit said he ordered them to stop once he learned of the operation. He argued that listening to someone so closely involved in the prime minister’s personal and political affairs was sensitive enough to require his prior approval.

Judge Moshe Bar-Am asked Mandelblit how investigators were to distinguish between steps covered by the initial authorization and those requiring additional consent. Mandelblit replied that the subject matter he approved set the boundaries, while major developments would have called for further consultation.

The trial began in May 2020 and covers three cases involving alleged gifts and dealings with media owners. Netanyahu faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in all three. In Case 4000, he also faces a bribery charge concerning alleged regulatory benefits for Bezeq in exchange for intervention in the news coverage of Walla. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing.