Tel-Chai Nation

The leftist press and politicians sure are irked that the shady company Benny Gantz once ran is now under investigation:

Following a 38-year career in the army, former chief of staff Benny Gantz in 2015 became the chairman of a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity company called Fifth Dimension, which developed artificial intelligence solutions for law enforcement agencies. In December 2018, after just three years, the company went bankrupt, having burned through millions of dollars from investors.

[...] On Thursday, the question of the appropriate perspective with which to look at Gantz’s failed company became one of the most pressing of the current election campaign — the third in a year — when Acting State Attorney Dan Eldad ordered a criminal probe into Fifth Dimension over allegations of impropriety in its efforts to secure a lucrative contract with the Israel Police.
Netanyahu, who is due to appear in court as a criminal defendant over charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust just two weeks after the national vote, said in response to the announcement, “The public must know the truth, here and now, and before the elections.”

Announced just 11 days before the election, the investigation further muddies the already swampy political waters, with the timing blurring a clear view of the company, the allegations against it, and the “truth” that Netanyahu is demanding.

The mud
The suspicions against Fifth Dimension focus, first, on a NIS 4 million ($1.1 million) grant given to the firm by the police for a pilot project using the firm’s ostensible tech capabilities, after company executives allegedly provided law enforcement officials with misleading information. The preliminary grant was intended to become part of a NIS 50 million ($14.6 million) contract. That contract was not finalized.

According to a State Comptroller’s report released shortly before the April 2019 election, the Israel Police negotiated the NIS 4 million grant with the cybersecurity company without issuing a tender, in violation of acquisition regulations.

Notice how the word truth is in quote-unquote? Their way, apparently, of trying to downplay the seriousness of the issue. Amazingly, Avichai Mandelblit's willing to defend this probe:

Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit on Monday defended acting State Attorney Dan Eldad's sudden decision last week to open a full criminal probe into the case of a company once led by Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, known as the "Fifth Dimension Affair."

Mandelblit, speaking from the Besheva Conference, also for the first time explained his thinking behind the timing of key decisions he made regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's indictment. [...]

Ironically, though Mandelblit opposed Eldad's appointment, saying he was unfit for the post, the attorney-general said on Monday that he supported Eldad's decision regarding the Fifth Dimension Affair as not being impacted by politics.

According to Mandelblit, it was true that he might not have opened the criminal probe as fast as Eldad, but that Eldad got his approval for opening the probe before the decision was announced and that part of the basis for the decision was the fact that Gantz himself was cleared as not being a suspect.

Mandelblit also dismissed any suggestion that the timing of his decisions in indicting Netanyahu were political to hurt the prime minister in the recent two and impending third elections.

Oh, please. He's obviously approving this investigation of Gantz's former company just to deflect criticism of his intentions to harm the premier, having realized what a public reaction his announcements led to. At the same time, he's clearly intent, in contrast to his conduct on the premier, to avoid making Gantz a suspect, as though that proves he's innocent.

The time's come to learn just what Gantz did with any money he got, something Mandelblit seems disinterested in looking into.

Labels: Israel, Knesset, Moonbattery, political corruption