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New top Knesset committee head calls for investigation into allegations former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered staff to shred documents at prime minister’s office before handing over power to successor Naftali Bennett this week.
Gilad Kariv, a first-year Labor MP who is expected to head the Knesset’s Constitutional Law and Justice Committee, said the alleged activity would not only be illegal, but would constitute a “complete departure from standard operating procedures “.
“These actions represent a blow to the continuity of government and could hamper the orderly and proper transfer of power from one government to another,” Kariv wrote to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, asking him to initiate an investigation into the allegations. “This case requires a rapid and fundamental investigation because it touches the heart of democratic life… and just as much questions of national security. “
Kariv also called on Mandelblit to give clear direction to government staff on bans on destroying official documents.
Gilad Kariv, leader of the reform movement in Israel and Knesset candidate on the Labor Party list, poses for a photo at the party’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 17, 2021 (AP Photo / Tsafrir Abayov)
On Thursday, the Haaretz daily reported that PMO aides shredded some documents that had been stored in safes in a part of the office where Netanyahu and other senior officials had offices, at the Likud chief’s request. The alleged act took place on Sunday, hours before the Knesset voted to install a new Bennett-led government, removing Netanyahu from power after 12 years.
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Meretz MP Yair Golan also called for an investigation into the shredding allegations on Friday, calling on the police chief and the Shin Bet chief to examine the possibility of falsifying prosecution evidence. The Golan was likely referring to the submarine scandal, known as Cas 3000, in which several people with ties to Netanyahu were accused of accepting bribes to help facilitate a massive naval contract .
Netanyahu is not a suspect in the case, but several lawmakers – including Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who is set to become prime minister in 2023 – have called for Netanyahu’s possible role in the case to be examined. Netanyahu is also on trial in three criminal cases related to his tenure as head of government.
A man climbs into a fake submarine during a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, October 14, 2020 (AP / Oded Balilty)
Likud has denied the shredding claims as being “totally false,” and the PMO said it was not aware of any shredding activity but would verify the claims.
Likud again denied the allegations on Friday, saying in a tweet that the allegations were “absurd” and that all documents had been kept digitally.
“The media which have always attacked us by claiming that it is their job to criticize the government is now trying to give the regime a pass and attack the opposition with false and ridiculous claims,” he said. left in a tweet, which was shared by Netanyahu. .
It is not known which documents would have been shredded, although according to Haaretz, the safes in which they were stored typically contained documents relating to civil servants’ schedules, routine government work and more.
Yaakov Lozowick, who was the chief state archivist from 2011 to 2018, told Military Radio on Friday that if the documents were shredded, there may not have been a digital copy.
“If they shred documents in the prime minister’s office, it would appear that it is not information that other people have, so it stands to reason that we are talking about the most sensitive documents,” he said. declared.
Workers seen at the Israeli State Archives in Jerusalem on September 3, 2012. (Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)
On Monday, Netanyahu handed over the prime minister’s office and formal powers to Bennett in an unusually terse and short meeting, which ended without a traditional ceremony, handshake or photo op, an indication of the animosity that Netanyahu feeds towards Bennett, his own. former chief of staff.
According to a Haaretz report on Friday citing anonymous senior sources, incoming PMO staff were “seriously shocked” by the botched nature of the handover and the lack of information provided to the new team.
“There is nothing. No workflow procedures, no orderly organizational culture, important positions are unstaffed,” the source said. “Things crucial to defense and the economy have been inconceivably overlooked There is no documentation on the work, not even with regard to the Iranian nuclear issue and ties to the White House.
Likud denied the newspaper’s allegations, saying Netanyahu had “left office in the most orderly state he has ever known.”
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