The State Prosecutor's Office recently examined statements made by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in order to determine whether to open a criminal investigation on suspicion of sedition. The examination was conducted on two television interviews Olmert gave to television channels, in which he said that in opposition to the government's legal reform, "we have to move on to the next stage, to the stage of war, and war is not waged in speeches."
The investigation was closed, and the suspicion was ruled out after Olmert made it clear that he meant a war within the limits of the law only. It also turns out that the State Prosecutor's Office is conducting an additional examination of statements made by other senior officials, but it is now believed that this will be shelved.
Police confront Olmert at Ben Gurion Airport // The use is made in accordance with section 27A of the Copyright Law
The person who conducted the examination is Deputy State Attorney for Special Duties, Attorney Alon Altman, who is responsible in the State Attorney's Office for enforcing freedom of expression. Olmert's statements were brought to the attention of the State Prosecutor's Office by several sources, including the letter of the 40 pilots, who demanded that the State Prosecutor's Office and the Attorney General open a criminal investigation on suspicion of sedition against Olmert, Ehud Barak and others.
In a letter sent on their behalf, Attorney Nadav Haetzani quoted Olmert, including: "What is needed is to move on to the next stage, to the stage of war, and war is not waged in speeches. War is waged in hand-to-hand combat. Head to head. Hand in hand"; "No violence or lawlessness, but in war as in war." A response letter received by the pilots from the State Prosecutor's Office stated: "The Deputy State Prosecutor (Special Duties), Adv. Alon Altman, has decided, at the discretion of State Prosecutor Amit Isman, not to order the opening of a criminal investigation against him (against Olmert, N.B.)."
Ehud Barak (Archive). Complaint against his statements, photo: Herzi Shapira
The State Prosecutor's Office letter also detailed the reason for closing the investigation: "This is in light of the existence of additional publications in which Mr. Olmert made it clear that he meant 'a more aggressive struggle whose limits are the law and the absence of violence.'"
The response letter also states that the State Prosecutor's Office is currently investigating statements by other senior officials who called for resistance and civil disobedience against the legislation of the legal reform. The pilots' letter of complaint cited, among other things, quotes from Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert, Nehemiah Dagan, Dan Halutz, Yair Golan and Eyal Naveh. To them, the State Prosecutor's Office replied: "Most of the statements you mentioned in your request are under examination by relevant parties."
The offense of sedition is considered almost a dead letter, and the policy of the State Prosecutor's Office is not to use it. As far as is known, since several indictments were filed on sedition charges for actions to thwart the implementation of the disengagement plan in 2005, only one indictment has been filed to date for this offense.
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