Ohana press conference
Ohana press conferenceHezki Baruch

Justice Minister Amir Ohana strongly attacked prosecutor's office personnel dealing with the Prime Minister's cases in a press conference today, calling them "the prosecutor's office within the prosecutor's office."

Ohana claimed that those attorneys succeeded "through a small cult of court journalists to establish the notion that there is a War of Light on Darkness where the prosecution protects the public against its own elected officials."

"A choir of court journalists and interested commentators present dissent as heresy against the rule of law. The prosecution has eliminated the careers of many public figures while the public is convinced that this is cleaning the stables," Ohana added.

"Nobody dared reveal the dangerous symbiosis between investigators, the prosecutor's office, and the media. Exoneration always came too late. To remove a justice minister who did not like the system, files were removed from the archive and details were leaked, so the marked politicians would remember that the sword was always over their heads," Ohana accused.

The Justice Minister argued that the Prime Minister's investigators have turned into operatives "who set the agenda according to the political agenda, and become political actors."

He said he offered to conduct a polygraph test to find the leakers of the Prime Minister's investigative materials, but encountered a refusal.

"Honored Attorney General, there were dozens and maybe hundreds of leaks here and every such offense carries a 3-year sentence; how can the prosecution say you can't investigate?", he wondered

"I heard about the prosecutor's strike," said Ohana, "From whom are they seeking protection, the President? The Justice Minister? Or Judge Gerstell? No lawyer should be harmed, but the criticism comes after the straw broke the camel's back. They ask how a Justice Minister can say such things about the system over which he presides, and I ask how can a Justice Minister be silent?"

On the investigation into the demonstration against Filber and the phone confiscation of the Prime Minister's advisors, Ohana said, "The public sees and finds it difficult to believe that the law enforcement authority behaves this way. I regret that the capacity of elected officials to govern is low, especially in the transitional government. Honored Attorney General, I urge you to hold an independent investigation to return the public trust. I request this on behalf of many citizens."

Later, Ohana called for an investigation against senior prosecutors, "There is criminal and delinquent conduct here that needs to be investigated."

In response to journalist's questions, Ohana made it clear he did not call for investigating journalists, but only for investigating the leaking prosecutors. Ohana also noted that he has not spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu's son Yair in recent months.

In the press conference, Justice Minister Ohana also addressed Naama Issachar, imprisoned in Russia, and noted that many efforts were being made in her case.

"The Israeli government, the Prime Minister, and myself, are taking unprecedented action in relation to Israelis who are in prison in other countries and hope that it will bear fruit. We feel obligated to return Naama."

However, Ohana stressed that he would not prevent extradition of the Russian hacker to the U.S.: "We must not make her release conditional on any other person or transaction. In my estimation, soon I will make a decision to extradite him to the U.S."