Journalist Ben Caspit: Mandelblit's Approval to Investigate Case 1000 Is Key
Translated & summarized from Srugim by baba
Journalist Ben Caspit highlighted former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's approval of the Case 1000 investigation as the sole significant point from his testimony, calling other details "consciousness engineering." Mandelblit clarified his memo regarding Case 4000 approvals was inaccurate, blaming aides. He also stated he was unaware of interference attempts in the Netanyahu cases and described a staged witness meeting as improper, explaining he didn't order an investigation into it to avoid disrupting the trial. Mandelblit acknowledged potentially hoping the cases wouldn't lead to indictments.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Journalist Ben Caspit stated Mandelblit's approval of Case 1000 investigation is the only important detail from his testimony.
- Former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit admitted his memo on Case 4000 approvals was inaccurate.
- Justice Minister Yariv Levin called for Netanyahu's pardon based on Mandelblit's testimony.
- Mandelblit described a staged witness meeting as improper and a potential trial disruption.
- Mandelblit acknowledged hoping the cases against Netanyahu would not lead to indictments.
Journalist and presenter Ben Caspit stated on Sunday that the only significant takeaway from former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's testimony is that he approved the investigation into Case 1000, dismissing all other aspects as "consciousness engineering." Following Mandelblit's testimony, Justice Minister Yariv Levin called on President Isaac Herzog to grant a pardon to Prime Minister Netanyahu, asserting that the cases against him were fabricated. Other figures on the right claimed Mandelblit's testimony proved the investigation was politically motivated and unlawful.
Mandelblit clarified that he did not give one of the approvals in the Netanyahu cases mentioned in a memo he submitted to the court at the start of the proceedings. This came after defense counsel Amit Haddad presented a protocol from a discussion, claiming investigators in Case 4000 only sought approvals retroactively. Mandelblit acknowledged that his memo stating he approved expanding the investigation into the Bezeq case on October 2, 2017, was inaccurate, attributing the error to his aides.
Haddad also referenced a September 2019 document Mandelblit sent to the then-head of the Israel Bar Association, Avi Himi, stating no flaws were found in the Netanyahu cases. Judge Moshe Bar-Am asked Mandelblit if he would sign the letter in hindsight, to which Mandelblit replied he would need to review it.
Mandelblit described the staged meeting as "simply not right" and explained that he did not order a real-time investigation into it because it could have disrupted the trial. He added that he was not informed that the operation was approved by Commander Eli Assiag (then head of Lahav 433) and that prosecution representatives who later argued against investigating the staged meeting were present when it was approved. Mandelblit conceded he might have expressed hope early on that Cases 1000 and 2000 would not lead to an investigation or indictment, but stated that any suspicion necessitates a review, even if the matters seemed unusual.
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