Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will make the decision in principle whether to indict Prime Minister Netanyahu even before the upcoming Knesset elections, Haaretz reported this morning, Sunday. According to a senior source in the AG's office, Mandelblit is expected to announce his decision, which will be subject to a hearing, already in February. Mandelblit refused last week to address the question of the date of a decision on the matter, saying that "It is not a secret that we are trying to work as quickly as possible. We are sitting together and trying to make decisions, never at the expense of professionalism," Mandelblit said. "However, there is nothing preventing the prime minister from serving in his position even after it is decided to file an indictment against him, subject to a hearing," the AG emphasized. Associates of Netanyahu strongly attacked the intention of the AG. "Something smells rotten. The average time to decide on cases of public figures in the State Prosecutor's Office is 18 months. In Case 4000 , it is taking less than 18 months, or, as an official in the State Prosecutor's Office leaked to Baruch Kra, ‘a case in a week.’'" "There has not been such running amok in the history of Israeli law, and it is doubtful whether there has been in the history of democratic states. It is clear that a lack of innocence lies not with the prime minister, but with those who once again leaked the unrestrained and unfounded attack against Prime Minister Netanyahu."
