6.5 years after the investigation was openedAttorney Gali Baharav-Miara announced to the court this morning (Friday) a "stay of proceedings" in the case of 'harassment' of state witness Shlomo Filber in Case 4000 - the case is closed until further notice.
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The decision concerns the defendants Ofer Golan, Yonatan Urich, and Israel Einhorn, and its apparent meaning is the closure of the case, about six and a half years since the investigation was opened.
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The reason: The case cannot be conducted without the presence of the defendant Israel Einhorn, who is residing abroad.
In addition to Einhorn, the former Likud spokesman, Ofer Golan, the former Netanyahu family spokesman, and Yonatan Urich, the prime minister's strategic advisor, were also sued.
According to the law, the prosecutor's office has only one year to try to resume the proceedings by bringing Einhorn to Israel, and if it does not do so, it will not be possible to resume the case.
The decision was made against the backdrop of evidentiary difficulties in the case, which sparked opposition to its handling within the prosecution even before State Attorney Amit Isman decided to file it.
Another difficulty stems from the fact that Einhorn, the defendant whose stay abroad prevents the continuation of the proceedings, is the main witness in the case, even though he was not obligated to testify in the first place.
In February of this year, the defendants' defense attorneys, attorneys Amit Haddad and Noa Milstein, filed a motion to close the case due to a series of omissions that they claimed had been committed over the years. They also claimed that this was a "marginal incident" that amounted to Filber's own recordings being played on a loudspeaker outside his home, when he was not at home at all.
The defense attorneys emphasized that seven years have passed since the beginning of the investigation without the evidentiary hearings having begun, which constitutes a serious violation of the rights of the defendants.
In the final hearing, the judge reprimanded the prosecutor's office representatives and demanded a final decision regarding the continuation of the case. He noted that it was no longer possible to "play around with it.".
Shlomo Filber responded on his X account: "I am very disturbed by the thought that someone actually thought I was really disturbed.".
Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir on closing the case of the Prime Minister's advisors: "This is how the system works: You open a case with great fanfare, you abuse people and their families for years - just to try to overthrow a right-wing government through the interrogation rooms and the media.
""Seven years of persecution against Prime Minister Netanyahu's advisors (full disclosure, I have the privilege of working with one of them today) and in the end it ends with a weak confession. Again, a case that falls apart. Once again, it becomes clear that the entire goal was to create fear, slander, and political pressure.
""With the criminal Gali, the suspect no longer has to be guilty - it's enough that he's a right-winger.".
