Former Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh has refused to rule out the possibility that mistakes were made in the criminal cases against Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, and now offers the Attorney-General his advice to propose a plea bargain.
Alsheikh was being interviewed on Channel 12 News on Tuesday when he made the comments. He added that, "I know the people who led the investigations against Netanyahu, and I can tell you that their hands are clean."
Explaining his proposal of a plea bargain, Alsheikh said, "As an Israeli citizen, I am making this suggestion because our democracy is not yet mature enough to withstand a serving prime minister being put on trial."
Alsheikh's words were spoken only shortly after drama unfolded on Tuesday morning at the Jerusalem District Court as yet another hearing of one of the criminal cases against Netanyahu was held. David Sharren, a former chief-of-staff in Netanyahu's office, sharply condemned the State Prosecution as he prepared to testify, saying that, "I feel under threat. They have attacked and harassed me."
The Prosecution demanded that Sharren be declared a hostile witness. The judges have yet to rule on that question.
Sharren went on to decry the police unit which conducted his interrogation. "This unit made sure I was fired from my previous job. They threw me out of my place of work so that I couldn't defend myself. They trampled on my rights here and deceived this honorable court. Aside from that, they attacked me beyond these walls and harassed me.
"My 85-year-old mother was targeted by Lahav 433 [the unit that investigates serious national and international crime]," Sharren added. "They shut down her bank accounts and she had to scramble around to get the money she needed. And for some reason, they even decided to place my wife under house arrest. They told me that if I wanted to see her, I shouldn't count on it happening, as she was in their hands. How could I possibly remain calm in the face of all this, when the hangman is standing right at my side? When they're persecuting me wherever I go, asking me questions on the Submarine Affair? I feel under threat," he repeated.
Last week, the State Prosecution decided to request yet another witness be declared hostile - this was Yifat Ben Chai Segev, a former head of the Cable & Satellite Council. They made their request after Ben Chai Segev said, in the course of her testimony, "Because Ivri testified that I'm a leftist, they expected me to arrive here with a knife between my teeth, and to hand over Netanyahu's head on a platter. But I will only speak the truth."
She was then read one of the clauses in the indictment against Netanyahu where it states, among other things, that State witness Shlomo Filber alleged that the process of forming the Cable & Satellite Council was carried out in an accelerated manner.
"That's not true," Ben Chai Segev responded.