Former State Witness Filber Details Trauma From Netanyahu Investigation

Former state witness Shlomo Filber has broken his silence about the traumatic experience of his arrest and subsequent investigation, nine years after police first raided his home. In a dramatic interview with Oded Harosh on the program "A Conversation with Oded Harosh," Filber described the harrowing moments of his arrest and a difficult interrogation that included, he claims, an illegal rectal examination at Haderim Prison. These events have left him with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for many years.

Filber, once a central figure in Israeli legal and political circles, recounted how his life changed drastically on the morning of his arrest. He felt his arrest marked the beginning of a prolonged legal and media ordeal, stating, "From that morning when the Lahav 433 detectives broke into my home, I understood one thing: you don't come out of this. I am now going to a very long funeral."

During the interview, Filber alleged that investigators subjected him to an illegal rectal examination at 2 a.m. in Haderim Prison. He believes the purpose of such extreme measures was to humiliate and break him, making him feel like a "sub-human" with no power to resist. He stated that the investigators' goal was to extract testimony against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Filber explained that he felt law enforcement targeted him specifically to reach the Prime Minister. He suggested that after the right-wing bloc's victory in the 2015 elections, his political opponents realized they could no longer win at the ballot box and shifted to a "Plan B" of implicating Netanyahu. Filber considered the alleged sexual harassment during his interrogation a severe offense.

The consequences of this period continue to affect Filber, who revealed he suffers from severe PTSD and has decided to sue the state. He described the experience as transforming a person, warning of a phenomenon he calls "investigation trauma," similar to combat trauma but less publicly recognized. The full interview is scheduled to air on Channel 14 this Saturday night.