Meni Naftali seeks police protection

Threats against Naftali included a man who approached Naftali at a store in Afula and threatened him to “leave Bibi [Netanyahu] alone or else.”

By BEN HARTMAN
Yohanan Danino (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Yohanan Danino
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Death threats – including a vow to behead him “like ISIS” – have been leveled against Meni Naftali, the former manager of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence, his attorneys said Sunday in a letter sent to the Israel Police.
Ofer Almog, one of Naftali’s attorneys, said the threats included a man who approached Naftali at a store in Afula and threatened him to “leave Bibi [Netanyahu] alone or else.” The rest, like the Islamic State-inspired threat, were made on Facebook, including one vowing to “gut you if you don’t leave Bibi alone.”
Naftali’s attorneys have requested that police provide protection for their client due to the threats they say he is facing.
News of the threats came as Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino said the evidence and testimony given by Naftali over 12 hours of questioning on Thursday night appear to justify opening an investigation into the allegations.
“On the face of it, it looks like it is fitting to probe the matter, but we must allow the attorney-general to examine all the findings,” Danino said. “In the end, for us a probe and an investigation are the same for all intents and purposes because usually a large percentage of investigations begin as probes.”
A probe is not the same as an official criminal investigation, but often official investigations, especially against public officials, begin as initial police probes.
Almog said Saturday that his client had given police a USB flash drive and receipts to back up his allegations and that he and his client are confident an official investigation will be launched.
Naftali is expected to receive immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. More staffers in Netanyahu’s residence are expected to be questioned this week, perhaps even including his close confidant, Ezra Saidoff, the Prime Minister’s Office deputy director-general in charge of everything related to his residences.
A spokesman for the Attorney-General’s Office confirmed that they had received a letter from the Netanyahus’ lawyer, Jacob Weinroth, with claims to defend against allegations made in the recent State Comptroller Report, and said the claims were being reviewed.