Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuLiron Moldovan/POOL/Flash90

Following allegations that a large number of documents from the Prime Minister's Office were shredded before PM Naftali Bennett took over as premier, MK Gilad Kariv (Labor) has called for the Attorney-General, Dr. Avichai Mandelblit, to investigate the matter.

The allegations were made by the Haaretz newspaper, with regard to documents pertaining to the "Netanyahu era," and were denied as "utterly false" by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself.

"The Attorney-General must investigate this matter," Kariv said. "He must issue an official clarification to the head of the opposition [i.e. Netanyahu] and to his team of staffers, telling them that they must transfer in an orderly manner all documentation in their hands, including that held in the official offices in Balfour [the Prime Minister's official residence] - they are obligated to hand over everything pertaining to the previous term of office, to the current Prime Minister."

The article in Haaretz claimed that the documents concerned were held in a safe in the "aquarium," a secure area where the Prime Minister and his most senior aides worked, and that their content related to work schedules of office staff as well as material concerning Netanyahu's senior aides.

Other documents were apparently transferred to the archives of the Prime Minister's Office, as is required by law. Shredding of documents has been prohibited by previous governments and civil service regulations.