The last barrier to publication of the decision by the Attorney General on the cases against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been removed. In a short, laconic decision, justices Noam Sohlberg, Menachem Mazuz and Alex Stein, sitting as the High Court of Justice, dismissed the petitions brought by the Herzliya Citizens NPO and Adv. Yossi Fuchs (whose petition the Likud party sought to join) in which they asked the court to make a ruling forbidding publication of the decisions on the cases involving Netanyahu until after Israel's general election on April 9.
Judge Sohlberg said that "The court will not in general accede to petitions brought on behalf of the public where in the background there is a person or entity directly affected by the subject matter of the petition." Sohlberg said that this was the position in the current case "and there is no cause to deviate from the general rule… the decision by the Attorney General to file an indictment against him or not relates first and foremost to the prime minister himself, even if there are indirect consequences for the general public in Israel."
The judges ruled that it was too late for the Likud party to join the petitions, given that it had known about the Attorney General's intention of publishing his decision before the election since January 2.
The Likud party stated in its petition that the intended announcement by the Attorney general was the result of bullying pressure on him by the left for the past three years, in an attempt to topple a right-wing government and win the election other than through the ballot box.
The cases against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and all others involved are still at an initial stage. All deny the allegations made against them and are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 28, 2019
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