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Israel's attorney general has ordered an investigation into Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister's wife, over allegations of witness tampering and obstruction of justice in her husband's fraud cases.
Thursday's decision by Gali Baharav-Miara and state prosecutor Amit Aisman cited an Israeli television investigation alleging that Sara Netanyahu organized a campaign of protests and social media attacks against “enemies” of the prime minister.
The report alleged that the targets included the former attorney general who prosecuted Benjamin Netanyahu; lead prosecutor in the case; and Hadas Klein, a witness in one of these cases.
Klein and several others filed police complaints against Sara Netanyahu after the report came out.
Benjamin Netanyahu He is on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust related to alleged racketeering and racketeering, and this month he started. proving accountability.
Earlier on Thursday, IsraelThe Prime Minister has released a scathing four-minute video attacking “the left and the media” for committing “character assassination” and “blood libel” against him and his wife.
Lies know no bounds. There is no limit to despicable myths, facts taken out of context, fake news, brainwashing,” he said.
Netanyahu's government ministers and political allies also reacted angrily to the decision to call for an investigation.
Yariv Levin, the minister of justice, criticized the attorney general in Telegram for “excessive coercion”, which he called “criminal”. He dismissed the allegations as “television rumours”.
The speaker of Israel's parliament, Amir Ohana, said on Facebook that Baharav-Miara's motivation was political, saying he is “lazy and suffering from blindness, deafness and dumbness when it comes to (investigations against) his political side”.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, called for Baharav-Miara to be deported. “A person who persecutes government ministers and their families politically cannot continue to serve as attorney general,” he wrote in X.
Baharav-Miara has for the past two years criticized the Netanyahu government's efforts to overhaul the country's legal system, a move critics see as a power grab that could damage the country's democracy.
It is not yet clear what and how the police will act on the order to open an investigation into Sara Netanyahu.
In another twist, police commissioner Danny Levy was also involved in the television investigation.