Indictments expected against anti-Netanyahu protest leaders – report

Israel Police is expected to submit indictments against leaders of the protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coming days, Haaretz reported Saturday. The indictments are expected to be for offenses such as obstructing an on-duty officer and violence against police officers. Senior police officers have said that a lot of pressure has been applied to the State Attorney to approve the indictments, according to Haaretz. Police must have State Attorney authorization for indictments including those that they are able to issue independently. This is designed to prevent the Police from being able to limit freedom of speech. Many of the indictments are for offenses allegedly committed a few months ago at protests against Netanyahu. Among those against whom indictments are expected are Gonen Ben Yitzhak, Yishai Hadas and other leaders of the protest movements. Ben Yitzhak is civil rights lawyer who handcuffed himself to a police water cannon in July, attempting to block it from spraying the demonstrators.Police have been recommending dozens of indictments be issued against protesters in the past few months, most of them against anti-Netanyahu protesters. The police claim that the State Attorney is being too strict on the topic with one senior officer saying “it doesn’t make sense that after months of protests and dozens of investigations not one indictment has been issued,” according to Haaretz

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