An unnamed government official's "hat is burning," said State Comptroller and Ombudsman Micha Lindenstrauss in response to anonymous defense ministry officials' criticism of his Knesset-ordered probe on the government's role in freeing jailed Pentagon worker Jonathan Pollard. He is serving a life term in prison for handing over to Israel classified documents more than 22 years ago.
Lindenstrauss, a former justice, pointed out that military officials attended a Knesset committee hearing on the probe three months ago. "No one objected. What happened [so suddenly]?"
He declined to name a government official, but National Union Knesset Member Zevulun Orlev, who heads the committee that ordered the investigation, pointed his finger at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. MK Orlev accused Olmert of conducting "an ugly spin on the back of Pollard, whom he has abandoned. He [Olmert] is continuing his personal war against Lindenstrauss," who sparred with the Prime Minister during his investigation of criminal allegations against him.