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NEWS
Betzedek Asks Police Why Recommendations Regarding De
Hartoch Not Yet Submitted
By Yechiel Sever
In a letter to Shimon Gabbai, head of the Investigations
Department at Israel Police Jerusalem District, Betzedek
Director Atty. Mordechai Green expresses astonishment at the
way the police is conducting its investigation of Atty. Amnon
De Hartoch, who admitted that he slapped MK Rabbi Yaakov
Cohen in a corridor of the Knesset building two months
ago.
"For some reason," writes Atty. Green, "it appears the police
is in no rush to reach conclusions and submit its
recommendation to the State Attorney ... In the early years
of the State attempts were made to harm MKs and Israel Police
acted resolutely and swiftly, completely eradicating the
problem.
"... Unfortunately, although two months have gone by since
this grave incident and although, as reported, Atty. De
Hartoch admitted to perpetrating the act attributed to him,
Israel Police has yet to draft the recommendations it is
supposed to submit to the State Attorney. Indeed there are
investigations which require gathering large amounts of
material from various concealed sources, meaning Israel
Police needs time to formulate a position, yet it would
appear that the type of investigation in question, wherein
everything was clear and known from the outset, should not
take such a long time, which is liable to seriously undermine
the public's trust.
"It goes without saying that the damage to the public
involved in delaying the recommendations is great, for in the
meantime Atty. De Hartoch has received another public post,
and the legal authorities may eventually find that the act
attributed to De Hartoch is a legal disgrace, in which case
the need would arise to dismiss him from the new post as
well. As a side note, Israel Police's delay in providing a
decision joins the fact that Atty. De Hartoch was only
detained by the police and not arrested at all, which would
not have happened had most people (the standard "Mr.
Bozgalo") slapped somebody, certainly an MK.
"In light of the above," Atty. Green writes in conclusion,
"you are hereby asked to complete the investigation of the
case and to submit Israel Police's recommendations to the
State Attorney as soon as possible in order to allow the case
to proceed."
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