Israel�s attorney general has filed a police complaint over threats he said he has received over the past day, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday.

A statement from the ministry said Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit received threats in messages sent to his cellphone.

�These threats and harassment, which appear to have been coordinated, continued during all hours of the night and morning,� the statement said.

For months, Mandelblit has been the focus of a smear campaign by allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They see the attorney general – a former Netanyahu Cabinet secretary who was hand-picked for his current post by the Israeli leader – as a driving force behind Netanyahu�s legal woes.

The threats against Mandelblit come ahead of the start of Netanyahu�s corruption trial on May 24, where he will face charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust over a series of scandals.

(AP)