Group Demands Investigation of Herzog Over Abbas Meeting

In a letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandeblit, former MK and director of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Bravery) organization Dr. Michael Ben-Ari has called for an investigation into Zionist Camp head Yitzchak Herzog, after it was revealed this week that he had met with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas before last year’s elections to discuss the concessions he would make if he was elected Prime Minister.

According to a report on Channel Ten, Sunday, Herzog had told Abbas that he would be willing to withdraw from almost all of Yehudah and Shomron, establish East Yerushalayim as the capital of a Palestinian state, and place international peacekeeping troops in charge of the Old City of Yerushalayim. He also said that Israel would withdraw from the Jordan Valley. In response to the report, Herzog’s office confirmed that such offers had been made at a meeting with Abbas last year.

In his letter, Ben-Ari said that Hezog and several others who attended the meetings should be prosecuted “for offering to give away parts of Israel, including areas that are under Israeli sovereignty. Such meetings are illegal, and in fact under Israeli law could be punished by life in prison or the death penalty. We cannot excuse this activity as the result of an ‘innocent desire’ to bring peace, or as a legitimate political activity, as these meetings were held in secret, and was done in order to provide information for voters.”

When the Attorney General wants to, said Ben-Ari, he can “act very efficiently to arrest and prosecute rightwing activists who threaten to establish a ‘kingdom of Israel.’ Here the issue is even more pressing, because an actual meeting took place,” the letter added.