State prosecutor in Netanyahu's service

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Last Thursday, Deputy Jerusalem District Prosecutor Kochavit Netzach-Dolev sent a request to the Labor Court. The request, as I was informed by the Justice Ministry on Sunday, was sent on the behalf of the state prosecutor.

Jurists, who are polite people, would say about this kind of document: An error has been made by the scholarly prosecutor. People who are less experienced would nod and say: It's a disgrace.

The issue is a lawsuit filed with the Labor court by one Menachem Naftali against the Prime Minister's Office, its deputy director-general and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Naftali served as the caretaker of the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem and was fired. The date set for the evidence hearing is January 8. The state is asking for a deferral.

The request letter includes as many as 27 clauses. Some of them have to do with the prosecution's difficulty to meet the deadline. That's expected: The State Prosecutor's Office has always had trouble meeting deadlines. The main 15 clauses refer to a different matter, a much more interesting one. "The defendants believe," the State Prosecutor's Office writes, "that the evidence hearing should be postponed to a different date, after the elections."

Meni Naftali vs. Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu. 'The fear that she will do something, say something or get all stressed out over the need to sign a deposition is leading to foolish acts' (Photos: Yuval Chen and Avi Ohayon, GPO)

What does a junior employee's financial claim have to do with the elections, the reader might ask. Why Ezra Seidoff, the second defendant, is not running for Knesset, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the third defendant, has only received compliments from the plaintiff.

The media, the State Prosecutor's Office says. It is giving the lawsuit extensive coverage. The plaintiff is using it to present his claims, both claims which are relevant to his lawsuit and claims which are not.

So what, the reader will ask. "Simultaneous conduct in the media could affect the legal proceedings," the State Prosecutor's Office replies. Oh, come on. It seems that the State Prosecutor's Office has never heard about lawyers who give interviews in the court's corridors, including representatives of the State Prosecutor's Office, PR agents who act as spokespeople and recordings leaked from the investigation material.

It seems that no one in the State Prosecutor's Office has ever been involved in this kind of work. All the trials which have been conducted simultaneously in the media and in the courthouse were okay, until the Labor Court discussion of a lawsuit filed by one Meni Naftali came along.

Are you still not convinced? The State Prosecutor's Office has another explanation: The testimonies given before the court "will have an effect on political moves," it writes. In other words, hundreds of voters will cross over from the Likud to Meretz after hearing a shocking testimony about the way eggs are packed in the fridge of the prime minister's residence.

That's how stupid the State Prosecutor's Office thinks the voters are.

When Elyakim Rubinstein served as the attorney general, he issued an order to delay investigations involving public officials during elections. His successor, Menachem Mazuz, overturned the decision, and the current attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, adopted Mazuz's instruction, justifiably.

So there is no room for complaints against the investigation conducted by the police into affairs related to the Yisrael Beitenu party. Finding out the truth and a thorough cleanup are more important than the interests of a party or a politician.

But there is room for complaints when the State Prosecutor's Office appears to be employing double standards. Imagine an opposite situation: During an election campaign, the police launch an investigation into criminal acts in Netanyahu's party, and Lieberman's housekeeper sues him in the Labor Court. Would the State Prosecutor's Office have rushed to ask for a deferral of the maid's claim until after the elections in that case as well?

Why every person on the street knows the truth: The request made by the State Prosecutor's Office has nothing to do with the elections or with the cleanliness of the legal proceedings. It has to do with one woman, who is not a civil servant and is not running in the elections, but the fear that she will do something, say something or get all stressed out over the need to sign a deposition is making everyone engage in foolish acts.

Instead of making a mockery of itself with 27 clauses, the State Prosecutor's Office should have sent the Labor Court a letter with two words in it: Sara Netanyahu. The judges would have understood. Everyone would have understood.

Or, alternatively, to say sorry, we were wrong, and report to the court on time.