Avichai Mandelblit

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Avichai Mandelblit
אביחי מנדלבליט‎
14th Attorney General of Israel
In office
1 February 2016 – 1 February 2022
Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu
Naftali Bennett
Preceded byYehuda Weinstein
Succeeded byGali Baharav-Miara
17th Cabinet Secretary
In office
29 April 2013 – 1 February 2016
Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu
Preceded byZvi Hauser
Personal details
Born (1963-07-29) 29 July 1963 (age 61)
Tel Aviv, Israel
SpouseRonit
EducationTel Aviv University
Bar-Ilan University
Military service
Allegiance Israel
Branch/service Israeli Army
Years of service1985–2011
Rank Aluf (Major general)
CommandsMilitary Advocate General
Battles/wars

Avichai Mandelblit (Hebrew: אביחי מנדלבליט; born 29 July 1963) is an Israeli jurist who served as the Attorney General of Israel from 2016 to 2022. Mandelblit had a long career in the Israel Defense Forces legal system, eventually serving as the Chief Military Advocate General between 2004 and 2011. In April 2013, he was appointed Cabinet Secretary.[1] In February 2016, he was appointed Attorney General. In November 2019, following a three-year investigation,[2] Mandelblit formally indicted Israel's sitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on three charges of fraud and breach of trust, and one charge of bribery.[3]

Early life

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Avichai Mandelblit was born and raised in Tel Aviv. His parents were Baruch (Mickey) and Ada Mandelblit. His father, a clothing merchant and deputy head of the Israel Football Association, was an Irgun veteran and member of the right-wing Herut party. At age 26, Mandelblit became an Orthodox Jew and a disciple of rabbi Baruch Ashlag.[4]

Mandelblit postponed his mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces to attend Tel Aviv University as part of the Atuda program.[4] He joined the IDF in 1985, after graduating with a bachelor's degree in law. He later earned a Ph.D. in law from Bar-Ilan University.[5]

Military career

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Mandelblit during his time as Military Advocate General

Upon joining the IDF, he held a variety of positions in the Military Advocate General's Office. Between 1991 and 1992, he served as a judge on the Military Court of the Gaza region. In 1993, he was appointed senior assistant to the Chief Military Prosecutor, and later became his deputy. In 1997, he was appointed Deputy President of the Military Court of the Southern Command and the Ground Forces. In 2000, he was appointed as the Head of the Chief Military Defense, and, in 2003, as the Deputy Military Advocate General. In 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Tat Aluf (Brigadier General) and appointed as the Chief Military Advocate General. In 2009, he was promoted to the rank of Aluf.

During his service as the Chief Military Advocate General, Mandelblit frequently expressed the IDF's legal viewpoint upon different issues of the international humanitarian law. In December 2007, he declared that the IDF's use of cluster bombs during the Second Lebanon War complied with international humanitarian law.[6] He was also among the harsh critics of the Goldstone Report, stating:

We ourselves set up investigations into 140 complaints. It is when you read these other reports and complaints that you realize how truly vicious the Goldstone report is. He made it look like we set out to go after the economic infrastructure and civilians, that it was intentional. It's a vicious lie.

— Avichai Mandelblit[7]

On 15 September 2011, Mandelblit was succeeded as the Chief Military Advocate General by Danny Efroni.[8]

Cabinet Secretary

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After retiring from the military in 2011, Mandelblit served until 2013 as a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies.[9]

In 2013, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Mandelblit to the post of Cabinet Secretary which he served during the thirty-third government of Israel and the beginning of thirty-fourth government of Israel.[10][11] During this role he was in charge of establishing the Kotel compromise.[12]

Attorney General of Israel

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Mandelblit was appointed Attorney General of Israel in 2016, with the support of Netanyahu and his Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.[13]

As attorney general, Mandelblit gained "a reputation as a meticulous legalist" who prioritizes the rule of law; although a longtime member of the Likud party, Mandelblit was described by colleagues and friends as an apolitical attorney general whose decisionmaking is not colored by political considerations.[5] He opposed Section 7 of the proposed nation-state law, which would have allowed Jewish communal settlements to refuse to accept non-Jewish residents.[14] After his retirement as attorney-general, he became a critic of the government's proposed judicial overhaul, stating that it threatens Israel's liberal democratic system.[15]

As of June 2020, Mandelblit is also serving as acting State Attorney because the entering Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn has yet to appoint a new State Attorney to succeed Shai Nitzan. The High Court approved this arrangement.[16]

Indictment of Netanyahu

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Main article: Investigations involving Benjamin Netanyahu

Although Mandelblit had a close working relationship with Netanyahu dating back to Mandelblit's time as IDF's Military Advocate General, Mandelblit pursued criminal probes into Netanyahu relating to allegations of corruption by the prime minister and his associates.[11][13] In July 2016, Mandelblit opened an initial review of Netanyahu's conduct in an unspecified case, and was criticized by some on the left who viewed Mandelblit as protecting the prime minister.[13] In January 2017, Mandelblit approved law enforcement questioning of Netanyahu in connection with Case 1000 (an inquiry into allegedly illegal gifts).[13] After the separate Case 2000 (Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom affair) against Netanyahu emerged, Mandelblit moved slowly on the case.[13] In September 2017, Mandelblit indicted the prime minister's wife, Sara Netanyahu;[13] as part of a plea agreement, Sara Netanyahu was ordered to pay the equivalent of US$15,000.[5]

In February 2018, police recommended that Prime Minister Netanyahu be indicted for bribery in cases 1000 and 2000.[13] Later that year, another case, the Bezeq-Walla! affair Case 4000 emerged, and the prime minister fell under suspicion after his former allies Shlomo Filber and Nir Hefetz, turned state's evidence and became witnesses against Netanyahu.[13][17] In December 2018, after State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan recommended that Netanyahu be indicted,[18] Mandelblit announced that he would "work quickly" to decide whether to indict Netanyahu.[19] Mandelblit said he would not act "at the expense of quality decisions and professionalism" and "would not be influenced by anything other than the evidence and the law".[19]

In February 2019, Mandelblit announced he had accepted police recommendations to indict Netanyahu on three charges and that an indictment would be formally issued following a hearing.[20] Contested pre-indictment hearings concluded in October 2019.[21]

On 21 November 2019, Mandelblit indicted Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust (in connection with Case 4000) and fraud and breach of public trust (in connection with Case 1000 and Case 2000).[22] At the same time, Mandelblit indicted Yediot Ahronot owner Arnon Nuni Mozes on a bribery charge and Bezeq-Walla! owner Shaul Elovitch and his wife Iris on charges of bribery and obstruction of justice.[23]

Mandelblit tapes

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On 13 October 2020, Amit Segal had leaked an audio talk of Madelblit that implied that Madelblit was blackmailed, and that he got a tailored case against him.[24][25][26]

On 14 October 2020 The Times of Israel had reported that "The release of the tapes by Channel 12 on Tuesday was seen by allies of Netanyahu—whom Mandelblit indicted on corruption charges earlier this year—as supporting an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that the attorney general had been blackmailed by the state attorney, prosecutors and police into filing the charges as part of a 'witch hunt' aimed at ousting the premier. The newly aired recordings, while highlighting a beef between Mandelblit and Nitzan years before the Netanyahu investigations began, do not provide evidence for any such blackmail."[27]

Personal life

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Mandelblit lives in Petah Tikva[11] with his wife and six children.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Lis, Yehonatan; Cohen, Gili (29 April 2013). "הפצ"ר לשעבר אביחי מנדלבליט מונה למזכיר הממשלה" [Former Military Advocate General Avihai Mandelblit Appointed Government Secretary]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  2. ^ Israel's Netanyahu Charged in Corruption Cases Archived 21 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press (21 November 2019).
  3. ^ Pfeffer, Anshel (21 November 2019). "Israel's Gatekeepers Bravely Stood Up to Netanyahu. But the Real Battle Lies Ahead". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 1 December 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  4. ^ a b Lev, Tzvi (13 February 2018). "The man who can end Netanyahu". Israel National News. Archived from the original on 31 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d Mersinoglu, Yasemin Craggs; Zion, Ilan Ben (9 September 2019). "Meticulous legalist who holds Netanyahu's fate in his hands". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  6. ^ Hanan, Greenberg (24 December 2007). "IDF: Use of cluster bombs during war legal". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
  7. ^ "IDF set to counter Goldstone Report". Ynetnews. 23 January 2010. Archived from the original on 30 August 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  8. ^ Pfeffer, Anshel (24 August 2011). "Col. Danny Efroni to be next IDF military advocate general". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Dr. Avihai Mandelblit". Ministry of National Security. 4 June 2018. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  10. ^ Kalman, Aaron (29 April 2013). "Avichai Mandelblit named cabinet secretary". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  11. ^ a b c Kershner, Isabel (14 February 2018). "Promoted by Netanyahu, Israel's Attorney General Must Now Scrutinize Him". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  12. ^ Sade, Shuky (6 January 2017). "נדלבליט יעשה כמעט הכל כדי לחלץ את ביבי - אבל לא הכל" [Mandelblit will do almost anything to rescue Bibi - but not everything]. TheMarker. Archived from the original on 16 October 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Bob, Yonah Jeremy (1 March 2019). "Mandelblit: From PM's man to overthrowing Netanyahu – the timeline". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  14. ^ Sones, Mordechai (15 July 2018). "'All cities in the Galilee will become mixed'". Israel National News. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  15. ^ Starr, Michael (28 February 2023). "Ex-A-G Mandelblit: Israel in regime revolution, not judicial reform". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  16. ^ "High Court says attorney general can also serve as state attorney". The Times of Israel. 1 June 2020. pp. 1 June 2020. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  17. ^ Ziv, Amitai (24 February 2018). "Who Is Shlomo Filber, the Netanyahu Crony Who Turned State's Evidence?". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  18. ^ Gold, Jack (20 December 2018). "Israel State Prosecutor's Office recommends Netanyahu indictment". World Israel News. Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  19. ^ a b Hoffman, Gil (20 December 2018). "Mandelblit: We are not hounding the prime minister". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  20. ^ "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be indicted for corruption". CBS News. 28 February 2019. Archived from the original on 28 February 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  21. ^ "Netanyahu hearings end, but defense gets two more weeks for written submissions". The Times of Israel. 7 October 2019. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  22. ^ Bandel, Netael (21 November 2019). "Netanyahu Charged With Bribery, Fraud and Breach of Trust, Capping a Dramatic Political Year". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  23. ^ Bob, Yonah Jeremy (22 November 2019). "Netanyahu indicted– A-G: It is my duty by law to indict PM". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 21 November 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  24. ^ Israel, David (14 October 2020). "Likud Demands Mandelblit's Resignation; Shocking Recordings Imply AG Was Blackmailed to Indict Netanyahu". The Jewish Press. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  25. ^ "N12 - חשיפה | הקלטות מנדלבליט: "המניאק הזה לא מחליט בתיק שלי"". N12. 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  26. ^ "הקלטות נדירות נחשפו: למה מנדלבליט כינה את שי ניצן מניאק?". www.maariv.co.il. 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 14 October 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  27. ^ Bachner, Michael (14 October 2020). "Netanyahu ally threatens more dirt will air about AG if he doesn't resign". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
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