Chairman of the Yesh Atid Party Yair Lapid said Monday, at the opening of a parliamentary faction meeting in the Knesset, that Attorney David Shimron was being investigated along with another close Netanyahu associate in the submarine affair.
"The two people closest to the Prime Minister, his attorney David Shimron, and another lawyer whose name is not allowed to be published, were detained for questioning in the submarine affair," Lapid said. "This is an escalation. It's no longer a polite invitation to the offices of the 433 investigations unit. It's investigators showing up at the home at 6:30 in the morning to take them away for interrogation," said Lapid.
"I said in advance that the second lawyer would be summoned for questioning," Lapid said."Journalists who are here know this, and I told them that Netanyahu's closest group is infected with this affair. This is the order: First Shimron, then the second close associate, then Prime Minister Netanyahu. These are the three heads of the triangle of the submarine affair. I said this when I gave testimony in the affair. I know what has yet to be publicized. I know that there is no scenario, no situation, in which Netanyahu will not be summoned for questioning in the submarine affair. This is not about TV dinners, it's not about bottles of drinks; it's about state security, the Holy of Holies."
The police have emphasized that Netanyahu is not involved in the submarine affair.
Lapid then slammed the recommendations bill, which was passed yesterday by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, saying: "It's a law that says the police will not be able to announce whether there is evidence in the cases it is transferring to the State Prosecutor's Office. They will transfer the case, and the State Prosecutor's Office will have to guess whether or not to file an indictment.They'll flip a coin. So they will start the job from the beginning, tens of thousands of people will suffer from further procrastination, more torture, more delays, the only ones who will benefit from this law are the criminals. This is not a law of protection. State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan, Netanyahu's appointment, made an unusual move yesterday; he came to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation himself, sat down at the committee and said to the ministers: 'You are out of your minds, And we can not do our job. You are undermining the rule of law. You harm investigations.' What Shai Nitzan did not understand, or did not believe, is that is exactly what they want: To harm the rule of law. To harm investigations."
Lapid stressed that the two incidents are connected to each other: "There are two sides to the same incident: On the one hand, there are the interrogators and lawyers who are doing their job, on the other hand, are interrogatees who are trying to sabotage the investigation, who are trying to intimidate the police, who are trying to destroy the rule of law in Israel.Criminal offenders, interrogatees who are trying to threaten the interrogators and sabotage criminal investigations, with Netanyahu leading this process because of his own interrogations, the only reason for all of it."
"If Bitan would have shown the same self-sacrifice for the disabled, the self-employed; if Amsalem would have used the Interior Committee to fight with the same energy against the bureaucracy, our lives would be better.But it doesn't interest them.Netanyahu sent them and told them that they had only one job: to save him from the investigations.And when asked about it, the answer from his office was, I quote: 'Squeeze three lemons and drink so the smile will be wiped from your face.'Is this the Prime Minister's answer?What kind of style is that?Is this a reaction to a serious security corruption affair?Is this their attitude toward Israel's security?
"Netanyahu should have said, 'I will put everything else aside. I'll go sit with interrogators and tell them everything I know, and if any of the people close to me took money at the expense of national security, I'll be the first to send him to jail.' Instead he sends Bitan and Amsalem to go threaten the investigators. To threaten us all. It won't work. We're here. We will fight this corruption, we are not prepared to ignore this affair because it's about the security of the state, our soldiers ... Netanyahu won't destroy the entire rule of law in the country just because he's in trouble ... We won't allow this to happen." Lapid ended.