Netanyahu Seeks Probe of Appointment

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Friday for a criminal investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in his government’s ill-fated and short-lived appointment this month of an attorney general.

The appointee for Israel’s top law enforcement post, lawyer and political activist Roni Bar-On, resigned less than a day after he took office two weeks ago. He had been stung by criticism from the media, the political opposition and legal experts that he was not qualified for the job.

This week, however, a new political furor erupted over the appointment. The latest uproar was sparked by allegations, initially carried by a state-run television station, that Netanyahu had agreed to appoint Bar-On as part of a complicated deal to help a key member of the prime minister’s religious-right coalition who is embroiled in a long-running corruption trial.

The reports involve alleged threats by the politician, Aryeh Deri of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, to withdraw his party’s support for the recent agreement on the Israeli pullback from the West Bank city of Hebron unless Bar-On was appointed.

Deri, the reports said, had extracted a promise from Bar-On that he would be offered a plea bargain, enabling him to continue his political career.

All named in the reports by Channel One television, including Netanyahu, Deri and Bar-On, have denied any wrongdoing.

Police spokeswoman Linda Menuhin said acting Atty. Gen. Edna Arbel and top investigative officials will decide Sunday whether to open a probe into the matter. She said the initial requests to do so came from Yossi Sarid, who heads Israel’s leftist Meretz Party, and from a public watchdog organization known as Israel’s Movement for Quality Government.

On Friday, Netanyahu--after aiming a barrage of criticism Thursday at the reporter who broke the story--joined those calling for the police to get to the bottom of the allegations.

In a statement to members of his Cabinet, the prime minister called on police to conduct a “swift, professional and unbiased” investigation.

“I was amazed to hear these allegations,” Netanyahu told the Cabinet, according to Israel Radio. “To the best of my knowledge, they have no foundation.”

Nonetheless, the excitement of the political opposition and the concerns of legal experts and others here were deepened when Justice Minister Tzachi Hanegbi confirmed one aspect of the reports.

Hanegbi, a former law clerk for Bar-On, had been considered the main sponsor of Bar-On’s candidacy but was quoted Friday as saying the recommendation had come from the prime minister’s office.

One legal expert said he could not assess the validity of the allegations but that, if the reports proved to be true, it was hard to imagine a more serious breach of the public trust.

“The implication is that criminals or people charged with criminal offenses would have had their own man as the head of the criminal prosecutions of the state,” said Mordechai Kremnitzer, a law professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

Kremnitzer said he hopes that a special commission of inquiry will be appointed to look into the allegations.

Deri resigned as interior minister in 1993 after he was indicted on charges of illegally funneling government funds to the Shas Party and religious groups affiliated with it. He has denied wrongdoing.