The scandal involving people close to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is widening, after new suspicions emerged about the case’s key witness, police spokesman Brig. Gen. Lior Abudraham. What began as suspicion that Israel Prison Service chief Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi leaked information from a covert investigation is now shifting, according to a report first published Wednesday by Avi Yeshurun, toward alleged improper connections between Abudraham and the Police Internal Investigations Department, known as Mahash.
The latest turn centers on testimony given by Alona Shoshan, head of the Israel Police human resources division, before a review team from the Competition Authority. Shoshan handed investigators recordings in which Abudraham is heard speaking in an especially crude and vulgar manner. In one recording, he brags about the prosecutor handling the case and makes a harsh remark. The report says there is no evidence supporting Abudraham’s claims about the prosecutor.
Additional recordings obtained by Competition Authority investigators allegedly capture Abudraham claiming he had contact with a Mahash investigator who handled the case, a claim the investigator has strongly denied. He is also heard telling colleagues that Mahash chief Kerem Bar Menachem did not question him under caution, but only in an open interview, as a “favor” because he had helped her for a long time. Abudraham has also been questioned by the authority on suspicion of harassing a senior police officer, and he did not deny the conversation, saying it was “free speech between two adults.”
The new material has put Mahash in an embarrassing position, because if Abudraham was merely boasting or lying, it could undermine its key witness against Yaakobi. Abudraham’s main defense is that he was actually trying to “draw out” Shoshan. He told investigators he knew she was attempting to coax information out of him and that he deliberately said the “nonsense” to trap her and Yaakobi later. Investigators have not found any support for that version so far.
Meanwhile, the legal fight over the testimony continues. The Competition Authority has summoned the Mahash investigator who denies any connection to Abudraham, but has refused to call either the prosecutor or Bar Menachem, despite Yaakobi’s formal request. Neither Bar Menachem nor the prosecutor commented on the recordings, and neither Abudraham nor the Competition Authority responded to the publication.
