Police Admit to Wiretapping Netanyahu Associate Without Attorney General's Approval

During the trial proceedings involving Benjamin Netanyahu, a former senior police officer, Shmuel Sharvit, testified that Natan Eshel, a former head of the Prime Minister's bureau and close associate, was subjected to wiretapping for approximately one month. Sharvit stated that the surveillance was halted by order of his superiors, and he understood the reason to be the lack of approval from the Attorney General.

Netanyahu's defense team contends that the police used the wiretapping of Eshel as a means to gather evidence against Netanyahu himself. Defense attorney Amit Hadad presented court documents indicating Eshel maintained contact with a "main suspect," which the defense argues referred to Netanyahu. Sharvit did not directly confirm this, but when asked if Eshel's conversations with Netanyahu could have been intercepted, he responded, "Possibly."

Sharvit also testified that if an officer realized the wiretapped individual was speaking with a Knesset member, the monitoring of that specific conversation would cease. When questioned by Hadad about why the operation was terminated after a month, Sharvit recounted receiving an order from his then-commander, Koresh Barnur, to dismantle the listening post. "Koresh told me to dismantle the station after a month. There are problems, remove it," Sharvit said, clarifying that he understood the problems related to the absence of Attorney General approval.

The defense views this testimony as validation of their claim that the police conducted investigative actions against the Prime Minister through his associate without the necessary authorization. However, the article notes that the absence of approval does not automatically render the wiretapping illegal in the eyes of the court, and the question of whether the operation against Eshel constituted direct investigative action against Netanyahu remains a point of legal contention.