Avichai Mandelblit
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Avichai Mandelblit | |
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| Born | 29 June 1963 Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Allegiance |  Israel |
| Years of service | 1985–2011 |
| Rank |  Aluf (Major general) |
| Commands held | Military Advocate General |
| Battles/wars | |
| Other work | Cabinet Secretary Attorney General of Israel |
Aluf Avichai Mandelblit (Hebrew: אביחי מנדלבליט; born 29 June 1963) is an Israeli jurist who currently serves as the Attorney General of Israel. Mandelblit had a long career in the Israel Defense Forces legal system, eventually serving as the Chief Military Advocate General between 2004 and 2011. On April 2013 he was appointed Cabinet Secretary.[1] In February 2016, he was appointed Attorney General.
Personal life
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Mandelblit was born and raised in Tel Aviv. His parents were Baruch (Mickey) and Ada Mandelblit. His father, a clothing merchant and soccer player who served as deputy head of the Israel Football Association, was an Irgun veteran and member of the right-wing Herut party. At age 26, Mandelblit became an Orthodox Jew and a disciple of rabbi Baruch Ashlag.
Mandelblit was allowed to postpone his mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces to attend Tel Aviv University as part of the Atuda program. He joined the IDF in 1985 after graduating with a bachelor's degree in law. He would later earn a master's degree and a doctorate in law from Bar-Ilan University.
Mandelblit is married to Ronit, and has six children. The family lives in Petah Tikva.
Military career
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Upon joining the IDF, he held a variety of positions in the Military Advocate General's Office. Between 1991 and 1992, he served as a judge on the Military Court of the Gaza region. In 1993, he was appointed senior assistant to the Chief Military Prosecutor, and later became his deputy. In 1997, he was appointed Deputy President of the Military Court of the Southern Command and the Ground Forces. In 2000 he was appointed as the Head of the Chief Military Defense, and, in 2003, as the Deputy Military Advocate General. In 2004, he was promoted to the rank of Tat Aluf (Brigadier General) and appointed as the Chief Military Advocate General. In 2009, he was promoted to the rank of Aluf.
During his service as the Chief Military Advocate General, Mandelblit frequently expressed the IDF's legal viewpoint upon different issues of the international humanitarian law. In December 2007, he declared that the IDF's use of cluster bombs during the Second Lebanon War complied with international humanitarian law.[2] He was also a part of harsh criticism against Goldstone Report, stating:
We ourselves set up investigations into 140 complaints. It is when you read these other reports and complaints that you realize how truly vicious the Goldstone report is. He made it look like we set out to go after the economic infrastructure and civilians, that it was intentional. It’s a vicious lie.[3]
On 15 September 2011, Mandelblit was succeeded as the Chief Military Advocate General by Danny Efroni.[citation needed]
Government career
After leaving the IDF, he served as a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and completed a doctoral thesis in law under the direction of Professor Yaffa Zilbershatz. In 2013, he was appointed Cabinet Secretary. He served in this role until becoming Attorney-General in 2016.[citation needed]
Indictment of Netanyahu
On 20 December 2018, Mandelblit announced that he would "work quickly" to decide whether or not to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[4] However, he also stated his indictment was also "not at the expense of quality decisions and professionalism" and "would not be influenced by anything other than the evidence and the law."[4] The indictment will be finalized in February or March 2019.[4]
This came the day following State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan's recommendation that Netanyahu be indicted.[5] On 20 February 2019, Mandelbilt announced that he had accepted police recommendations to indict Netanyahu on three of the charges presented, and that the indictment will officially go into effect following a hearing.[6]
References
- ^ Lis, Yehonatan; Cohen, Gili (29 April 2013). "הפצ"ר לשעבר אביחי מנדלבליט מונה למזכיר הממשלה" [Former Military Advocate General Avihai Mandelblit Appointed Government Secretary]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 13 March 2018.
- ^ Hanan, Greenberg (24 December 2007). "IDF: Use of cluster bombs during war legal". Ynetnews. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "IDF set to counter Goldstone Report". Ynetnews. 23 January 2010. Archived from the original on 30 August 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Gil Hoffman (20 December 2018). "Mandelblit: We are not hounding the prime minister". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ Jack Gold (20 December 2018). "Israel State Prosecutor's Office recommends Netanyahu indictment". World Israel News. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be indicted for corruption". cbsnews.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
External links
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