Ayelet Shaked
Ayelet ShakedFlash 90

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) clarified today that she attributes great weight to the report of the Ombudsman, retired judge Eliezer Rivlin, regarding the affair of Justice Ronit Poznansky-Katz. WhatsApp correspondence was discovered Sunday between an Israel Securities Authority representative and Ronit Poznansky-Katz, the judge assigned to handle Case 4000 - the Bezeq case - attesting to coordination between them before the remand extension hearings.

"I very much trust Justice Rivlin, he's a meticulous person, and not for nothing did we ask him to clarify the story. He also used Eran Shaham's investigation by the commission. He will not only question the judge, he will also question the Lahav 433 representatives," Shaked said at the National Energy Conference of the Israel Institute of Energy and Environment in Tel Aviv.

"When all the facts were published, the picture changed a bit," Shaked noted. "I want to first learn the facts, get to know the details, and then everything is open. We will do what needs to be done. Since the incident I spoke with a number of present and retired judges and lawyers. All the judges I spoke with told me that they certainly use SMS to coordinate, both this judge and others who don't have assistants and do their own coordination, but talking about the number of days of detention is something that shouldn't be done."

Shaked rejected claims about state authority treatment of state witnesses. "About state witnesses, in the end, it's a person who reached such a situation and is likely to have committed some kind of crime and wants to extricate himself from the police, and that's his decision. If you look at the interest of law enforcement agencies, this is an important tool.

"The phenomenon of recording phone conversations in my eyes is despicable," declared the Justice Minister. "I'm afraid to talk on the phone to people. Today everyone has WhatsApp and the ministers and politicians are very accessible. I don't say this tool should be taken away, I say that people in a position of trust shouldn't record their bosses. This is something that I find unacceptable."

Minister Shaked made it clear that her party, Jewish Home, does not intend to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is suspected of accepting bribes, before the Attorney General decides whether to indict him. "When the Attorney General makes his decision, we'll think about what to do. We don't have to do anything before that. We have to be very careful that investigations don't become a political tool.

"I estimate that at the beginning of 2019 they'll go to elections," predicted Shaked. "Olmert resigned before the indictment because his political partners showed him the way out, I do not know for what reasons. We are a coalition that works well. This government should function for at least four years. I think that will happen."

By law, new elections must be held by the 5th of November, 2019.