At a hearing held last week at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, Judge Liat Banmelech decided to disqualify herself from dealing with the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair Netanyahu to issue an order to prevent threatening harassment from "Crime Minister" activist attorney Gonen Ben Yitzhak.
Netanyahu's attorney Uriel Khur Nizari claimed that his client "doesn't plan to return to Israel anytime soon, he needs to maintain his privacy." The lawyer spoke Sunday morning with Anat Davidov and Nissim Mashal on 103FM and commented on the matter.
"The court case we are talking about is a case regarding a request to prevent threatening harassment," he said. "We see Yair being tracked in every step he takes. Like every person, he too deserves privacy, privacy is a supreme value in any democracy and it must not be compromised. He has his private life, he can be where he wants, when he wants. Yair is not [an] elected public [official]."
He also said that "the facts are something that must be proven, it is not enough that something was said in the media for it to become true. The story we talked about is about the question of whether he is expected to arrive in Israel within seven days, the answer to that is negative."
Private security measures are taken at home
On the issue of his security at his place of residence at the moment, Attorney Nizari said, "There is no connection between the fact that a person is or is not in a certain place and public affairs. We do not yet know the final date of the next hearing, another hearing is expected to take place in the coming days, and Yair will not be physically present at the hearing."
Michal Kadosh of 103FM contributed to this report.