Knesset legal adviser denies quitting Netanyahu's immunity case
Attorney Eyal Yinon, denied on Monday that he would disqualify himself from dealing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's immunity request, due to a conflict of interests.
By GIL HOFFMANPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting, December 2019.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The legal adviser of the Knesset, Attorney Eyal Yinon, denied on Monday that he would disqualify himself from dealing with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's immunity request, due to a conflict of interests.Yinon's partner, Attorney Amit Marari, works for the Justice Ministry and dealt with Netanyahu's cases under State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan. Marari had signed a conflict-of-interest form saying that she and Yinon would never deal with same case.After Army Radio commentator Yaakov Bardugo pointed out the potential conflict, the Likud asked Yinon to excuse himself, and while reports originally stated that he agreed and admitted that he should not have dealt with Netanyahu's case in the first place, he later issued a denial that he was quitting.In the denial, Yinon wrote that if there will be deliberations about Netanyahu's immunity request then he will disqualify himself, but he saw no conflict of interests in the procedural matters of what committee can deal with the issue. "The Knesset legal adviser has adhered to a strict agreement regarding conflicts of interest throughout the years in which he and his partner have had parallel roles," a spokesman for the Knesset said.Yinon ruled on Sunday that a Knesset House Committee could be formed to deal with Netanyahu's request from immunity from prosecution in his criminal cases. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein asked Yinon for anther ruling about whether he, as Knesset Speaker, could block the committee from being formed.In his ruling, Yinon criticized the timing for the move during an election. But he said that the legislators of the Immunity Law wrote that immunity requests must be dealt with as soon as possible, so the House Committee could be established, even though it is normally only formed after a government is sworn in.Edelstein is under pressure from the Likud to prevent the House Committee from being formed, and from the Blue and White Party to allow it. Blue and White warned Edelstein not to “shame the holy of holies of Israeli democracy” and said he heads the Knesset, not the Likud campaign. Likud officials have warned that Edelstein’s hopes for becoming president could be dashed if he enables prosecuting Netanyahu. Likud faction chairman, Miki Zohar, said on Monday that Yinon should also cancel Sunday's ruling that the House Committee could be formed to deal with Netanyahu's immunity.Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.
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