By YONAH JEREMY BOB AND JPOST.COM STAFF
Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman was acquitted by a three-judge panel of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in the fraud and breach of trust trial against him.
Since Liberman was indicted in December 2012, Israeli politics have been on pause (the post of foreign minister has been held in trust for him) to learn the fate of one of the most dominant forces of the last decade.
Liberman addressed the media upon leaving the courtroom, saying that “this issue is behind me, I don’t want to deal with it anymore. I want to focus on new challenges.” He refused to answer questions about his political future and a possible return to his post of foreign minister following the acquittal.
The lead attorney for the State, Michal Sable said that the state believed it had sufficient evidence to convict Liberman, but the court thought otherwise. The State Attorney’s Office said that it would study the decision, adding that no discussion of an appeal was being held at this point.
Many are predicting that with his acquittal his popularity will be further boosted, and he will immediately return to the post of foreign minister.
A great deal was at stake for Liberman and the Israeli political establishment in the outcome of the legal saga.
Had he been convicted with a finding of moral turpitude, his resignation as foreign minister would be made permanent, he would have been forced to resign from the Knesset, and he would have been banned from political life for seven years.
The prosecution’s main allegations were as follows: First, in October 2008, Ambassador to Belarus Ze’ev Ben-Aryeh gave Liberman a note with information about a state investigation into money-laundering allegations against him, discussing the case with him for three to five minutes.
Next, the prosecution says, Liberman destroyed the note, failed to report Ben-Aryeh and then helped him procure promotions in the Foreign Ministry.
After that, Ben-Aryeh joined Liberman’s bureau in April 2009.
The prosecution says that Liberman both failed to report Ben-Aryeh to the Foreign Ministry’s appointments committee and actively campaigned in fall 2009 for Ben-Aryeh to be appointed as Latvian ambassador.
According to the prosecution, the campaign included Liberman giving instructions to then-deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon saying that Ben-Aryeh was his preferred candidate (all of this based on what Ayalon told police).
The judges ruled Wednesday that Ben-Aryeh had initiated and surprised Liberman, who had no part in initiating the exchange between them.
They added that there was no proof that Liberman tried to inappropriately help Ben-Aryeh, who was qualified to hold the post in any event.
Liberman did act inappropriately, according to the verdict, but the gravity of the conflict of interest did not merit a conviction
The judges rejected the testimony of Ayalon, stating that it contradicted other top Foreign Ministry officials. They said that Ayalon had not sufficiently explained how he swiftly went from defending Liberman’s innocence to proclaiming his guilt.
It was a witch hunt, period! Let us hope he will stand his ground, and speak out on behalf and to the benefit of all Israel.
@ Eric R.:
Its a damaging blow to Israel’s Left and Israel’s dual justice system that tried to have him permanently removed from Israeli political life. His enemies are now on the defensive.
When he returns to being Foreign Minister, I want his first trip to be to meet with Frau Ashton of the EU. And I want the meeting to last long enough to make her head explode. Or at least pop a vein in her head.