Brig. Gen. Gal Asael, the ex- Deputy Military Advocate General, rejected the police’s claims against him regarding the probe he led into the leaked Sdei Teiman video, shifting responsibility onto Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara during his police interrogation, i24News reported on Tuesday evening.
According to the report, Asael claimed in his interrogation that “all of my actions were guided and directed by the Attorney Generals office.”
The police investigator confronted Asael: “Your investigation was negligent. You didn’t try hard enough; you didn’t do enough. You played around and weren’t serious.”
Asael responded. “There is no action I took that I did not receive praise for from the Attorney Generals office. The Deputy State Attorney said that the examination was thorough and serious.”
“The Attorney Generals office gave me feedback that was later also conveyed to the Supreme Court that the probe was very serious and thorough. So what do you want from me? I hadn’t carried out an investigation into a leak until then; it was the first leak inquiry I was appointed to lead, and therefore my every move was guided and directed by the Attorney Generals office, whose officials are experienced in leak investigations and have much more expertise than I do in the matter. There is nothing criminal on my part here.”
He added, “If you yourselves claim that I was not aware and did not deliberately close my eyeswhere is my criminal offense? The fact that it turned out after the fact that people deliberately misled me is not my fault.”
As the public is now aware, it was the disgraced ex-Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi who leaked the doctored video to the press. She then ordered an internal probe within the Military Advocates Office to investigate the leak, appointing her deputy to lead it while she herself knew very well how the video was leaked. She and Baharav-Miara then allegedly submitted false affidavits about it to the Supreme Court, claiming that the probe failed to find the source of the leak.
That investigationled by Asaeldid not include the questioning of the people in the immediate circle who had access to the video. These individuals were the first group within the legal corps who should have been interviewed, even as a matter of basic procedure. Some of them, according to the report, might have revealed the truth had they been properly questioned.
When the news became public that Tomer-Yerushalmi herself leaked the video, Baharav-Miara did her utmost to obstruct the investigation, failing to have her arrested and her phone seized, allowing her ample time to stage her suicide and “lose” her phone in the sea.
A report last month also revealed that Baharav-Miara personally prevented the transfer of information on the case to Lahav 433.
In a previous report, Avishai Grinzaig, legal affairs correspondent for i24News, stated, This whole episode is insane. Baharav-Miara didn’t have her arrested, and for several days, she managed to meet twice with the IDF Chief of Staff, issue a public letter to the media about the case, and meet repeatedly with her lawyerand meanwhile, different versions of the case were leaked. And the Attorney General still didnt order an urgent interrogation.
Its absurd that for so many days she wasnt required to give a statement, and no one seized her phone to determine who knew what and when. The risk of obstruction was enormousespecially in a case where the entire issue is obstruction and cover-up.
This isnt an investigative failureits an investigative crime. Because it was all foreseeable. Id say the Attorney General will have to give answers, but thats a joke. Who can demand anything from her?
When youre shielded from criticism on all sidesthis is the result, he concluded.
(YWN Israel DeskJerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
the accompanying picture is contrived and misleading. instead of a phony superimposed head, which seems to be in the room looking over his shoulder, it should be proper, side by side pictures. the story itself is bad enough without embellishments.