National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir spoke at the start of an Otzma Yehudit party meeting on Monday and revealed that Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara tried to fabricate a criminal case against him.
“This story,” Ben-Gvir began, “should shake the foundations. It also shows the working methods of the attorney-general. Unfortunately, the picture I get is that she does what she wants, with no limits or checks, and what I’m about to tell you illustrates this.”
“A few months ago, one of the attorney-general’s deputies visited the police’s Lahav 443 crime unit. I am aware of this story, not from the police, but from a source in the prosecution who came to me and said, ‘Listen, Minister, my conscience is bothering me, and I want to tell you what happened there.'”
“The deputy had requested to launch a criminal investigation against me regarding the distribution of weapons, which by the way, is a reform I’m proud of and which has proven time and again – on the streets, in results, in preventing attacks, and in thwarting massacres – how right I was.” [Following October 7, Ben-Gvir led an initiative to loosen the strict criteria required for civilians to receive gun licenses. In some cases, civilians who received guns under the new criteria used them to neutralize terrorists.]
“The Lahav staff responded to the prosecutor, saying, ‘There is nothing, there is nothing at all, everything is clean, we have nothing to base an investigation on.'”
“The deputy returned to the attorney-general, told her these things and was berated for being too lenient. The attorney-general then sent another deputy of hers, someone who’s stubborn. This time the attorney-general didn’t ask, she gave an order, ‘Investigate, find me something against the minister.'”
Ben Gvir continued: “I don’t know what happened since that investigation, several months have passed. I assume it was closed, and if it wasn’t closed, it will be closed. After all, I say this again, I am proud of the weapons distribution reform. But that is not what is important. What is important here is the behavior of the attorney general, who simply…seeks to open investigations against politicians and engage in targeted actions against them.”
“I decided to expose this story because we are currently in the midst of very, very difficult events. The attorney-general, it should be said, wants to carry out a coup against democracy, to oust a sitting prime minister, to oust a minister, without even having any… foundational legal basis for this. And her people are operating in an extraordinarily egregious manner, unlike anything seen since the founding of the state.”
“The investigation of the prime minister’s advisor, the leaks, the story of the people surrounding the prime minister, reveal her work methods. She has refrained from investigating dozens, if not hundreds of leaks, against me, against the prime minister, and within the cabinet, but she chooses to investigate what she wants, how she wants, and where she wants.”
