Plug the leaks

(September 17) - The police investigation of fraud allegations against Binyamin Netanyahu should raise feelings of unease about how Israel handles the sensitive matter of investigating politicians. The rule of law demands a swift and silent investigation that protects both the public and the rights of the accused.

According to an investigative report by Yediot Aharonot, which sparked the police investigation, contractor Avner Amedi submitted a NIS 440,000 bill to the Prime Minister's Office shortly after Netanyahu's election defeat. The bill was for work done over three years at the Netanyahu's official and private residences, work for which Amedi had reportedly not been paid. Netanyahu's former bureau chief Uri Elitzur and director-general Moshe Leon reportedly requested that the bill be paid, while legal adviser Shimon Stein held up payment based on legal concerns. The Treasury subsequently approved payment of NIS 50,000 to Amedi, which has since been suspended.

Clearly, any credible evidence that substantiates allegations that the prime minister received personal favors from a building contractor requires police investigation. Though it is disturbing to see any high public official, current or former, being led into police headquarters for questioning, it is also a mark of the independence of the judicial system that such scenes are possible. The fact that this inquiry began with an news report is a reminder that investigative journalism is a mainstay of any healthy democratic society. Public officials must always know that they will not be allowed to abuse their public trust, certainly not concerning such basic matters as bribery or fraudulent use of public funds.

Gross public crimes, however, are not the only danger to democracy and rule of law. The judicial system, including the police, must be above suspicion of political motivation or influence. Currently, there is a healthy respect for the impartiality of the police, as indicated by the support of most Likud politicians for the police investigation of their own former leader. Such respect is not shared, of course, by Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman, himself a veteran of multiple police investigations, for whom accusing the police of witch hunts is a centerpiece of his political agenda.

Such attacks against the police that, for now, occur on the fringe of Israeli politics could easily spread to the mainstream if legitimate concerns regarding police leaks are not addressed. Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami has correctly termed such leaks as "serious." Likud leader Ariel Sharon's warning that "vicious leaks during a police investigation are a profound threat to human rights and democracy" should also be heeded.

Though high public officials take on many risks, burdens, and responsibilities with their office, they also have rights as citizens in a democracy. Just as no public figure can be above the law, neither should public officials lose their rights as individuals. Among those rights is the presumption of innocence, which is grievously undermined by leaks from police investigations before any charges have been brought, let alone a trial or a conviction.

Defenders of civil rights should not assume that such leaks are only a threat to politicians. Recently, for example, the police leaked their investigation of an elderly couple accused of falsely reporting the "death" of MK Amnon Rubinstein, hours before identifying the man who admitted to the crime.

Ben-Ami missed a golden opportunity at that time to impose serious consequences on the police investigators who made a national spectacle of an innocent couple. Since the accused in this case is the former leader of an opposing party, Ben-Ami now has a special obligation to show that the rights of opponents are no less sacred than supporters of his own party. In the long run, there is nothing that Ben-Ami could do to more enhance the reputation of impartiality of the police than to crack down on leaks. To make a difference, he must go beyond the standard cluck-clucking and identify and punish those involved.

Newspapers, along with other components of the media, clearly feed upon the leaks that we condemn. But the rights of the accused, which were so dramatically defended by the recent High Court of Justice case striking down General Security Service interrogation methods, cannot be effectively defended by controlling the demand of the media and the public for information. This responsibility falls primarily, if not exclusively, on those entrusted with enforcing the law. The political echelon, rather than lining up to convict Netanyahu, the police, or the media in the court of public opinion, should focus on ensuring that the investigation be completed as impartially as possible, and that investigators who leak be removed from their posts.