Mandelblit, Avihai

Avihai Mandelblit was born July 29, 1963 in the family of Baruch (Miki) Mandelblit, who for a long time served as deputy head of the Israeli Football Association ^[1] .

Military career

Mandelblit was drafted into the Military Prosecutor's Office of Israel in 1985, after receiving a law degree at Tel Aviv University .

After fulfilling several posts, both in criminal charges and in defense of military personnel (as well as a judge in the military court of the Gaza Strip from 1991 to 1992), he was appointed in 1997 to the position of Deputy Chairman of the Military Court of the Southern Military District and the Command of the Ground Forces .

In 2000, he was appointed to the post of Chief Military Defender, in 2003 - to the position of Deputy Chief Military Prosecutor.

In 2004, Mandelblit was awarded the rank of brigadier general, and he was appointed to the post of Chief Military Prosecutor, replacing Major General Menachem Finkelstein . In 2009, promoted to major general.

Activities as Chief Military Prosecutor

During Mandelblit's period as Chief Military Prosecutor, the Israel Defense Forces were involved, among other things, in large-scale military operations during the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip . Under the leadership of Mandelblit, despite the criticism of some commanders, in order to prevent Israel from being accused of non-compliance with international humanitarian law , the principle of the active involvement of military prosecutors in the planning and conduct of hostilities, not only at the level of the General Staff, but also at the level of military districts and military divisions ^[2] .

At the same time, Mandelblit sharply criticized the international reaction to Israeli military operations, emphasizing in relation to Operation Cast Lead :

“We conducted an investigation into 140 complaints. It is when you read all the other reports and complaints that you realize the true maliciousness of the Goldstone Report . The report gives the impression that the Israel Defense Forces sought to strike at the economic infrastructure and civilian population, which was intentional. This is a malicious lie ” ^[3] .

Original text (Hebrew)

ערכנו חקירות על 140 תלונות. כאשר אתה קורא את הדו"חות האחרים ואת התלונות אתה מבין בדיוק כמה אכזרי דו"ח גולדסטון. הדו"ח מציג את צה"ל כמי שהתכוון לפגוע בתשתית הכלכלית ובאזרחים, כאילו זה היה מכוון. זה שקר מרושע

Mandelblit’s efforts in this field influenced the further statement of Richard Goldstone , head of the UN commission to investigate Operation Cast Lead, which issued a partial refusal of Israel’s war crimes charges during the operation ^[4] .

On August 26, 2010, Mandelblit also testified before the Tirkel Commission , explaining the Israeli army’s position regarding the blockade of the Gaza Strip ^[5] .

In the position of the Chief Military Prosecutor, Mandelblit often gave legal instructions in cases of high public resonance related to offenses by the high army command. His decisions were sometimes criticized, both from those representing him overly strictly related to such offenses ^[6] , and from the side (partly radical left organizations) representing him covering offenses in the interests of the army ^[7] .

Mandelblit’s decision to bring two Givati brigade men to justice for having suspicious bags during the scouring of the building during Operation Cast Lead turned to a Palestinian boy asking him to open the bags caused widespread publicity. The transfer of the case to court, regarded by some as a tribute to international criticism of Israel , provoked a series of protests, including personally against Mandelblit ^[8] .

On August 24, 2011, a message was issued about the decision of Minister of Defense Ehud Barak to approve the appointment of reserve colonel Dani Efroni as Mandelblit ’s successor as Chief Military Prosecutor ^[9] . On September 15, 2011, Mandelblit transferred control of the Military Prosecutor's Office to his successor and went on vacation on the eve of his withdrawal from the army.

After stocking out

Already during Mandelblit’s vacation on the eve of the reserve, there was a message about his possible appointment as the head of the government committee to check the possibility of legitimizing the status of illegal outposts built by Jewish settlers in the West Bank . Mandelblit’s possible choice was harshly criticized by Israel’s national (“right”) political camp, whose representatives recalled Mandelblit’s close cooperation between the Military Prosecutor’s Office under his leadership and pro-Palestinian human rights organizations, the Military Prosecutor’s actions to deter Jewish settlement activity , as well as the legal justification given by the Military the prosecutor’s office during the same period, the actions of the army during the evacuation of Jewish settlers during the execution of the “ unilateral chewing ”in the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria ^[10] .

In the end, Mandelblit did not join the committee ^[11] . His name was mentioned later among the candidates to replace Micah Lindenstrauss as the Comptroller of Israel in the summer of 2012 ^[12] .

Since the beginning of 2012, he was a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Research (INSS) of Tel Aviv University ^[13] , while working on a doctorate on the topic “Using law as a means of warfare and the State of Israel - experience of the past and look into the future” in Bar-Ilan University ^[14] .

On April 29, 2013, Mandelblit was appointed Secretary of the Government of Israel , replacing Zvi Hauser ^[15] .

Personal life

At the age of 25, Mandelblit approached religion and became one of the students of Rabbi Baruch Ashlag ^[1] .

Lives in Petah Tikva . Married to Ronit Mandelblit, father of five children (four sons and a daughter) ^[16] .

• (אביחי מנדלבליט ייעוץ תחת אש הארץ (29.1.09 (Avihai Mandelblit, “ Consultation under the Fire ”, Ha-Arez (29.1.09)) (Hebrew)
• אביחי מנדלבליט לוחמת משפט - החזית המשפטית של צה"ל צבא ואסטרטגיה, כרך 4, גיליון 1, מאי 2012 (Avihai Mandelblit, “ Using the Law of the Armed Forces of Israel - Law Front, Legal Front (1st brochure) (May 2012)) (Hebrew) (also translation into English (inaccessible link) )
• Avihai Mandelblit and Keren Aviram, The Second Turkel Commission Report (Avihai Mandelblit and Keren Aviram, “ Second Report of the Tirkel Commission” (inaccessible link) ”), INSS Insight , No. 403 (13.2.13 )

• Biography , on the website of the Ministry of Prime Minister of Israel (Hebrew)
• Biography , on the website of the Israel Military Prosecutor's Office (Hebrew)
• Biography on the website of the Israel Defense Forces . Date of treatment May 9, 2013. Archived March 9, 2012.
• Biography on the website of the Israel Defense Forces (Hebrew) . Date of treatment May 9, 2013. Archived on May 5, 2012.
• משה גורלי אין רמי דותנים, אבל יש בצה"ל שחיתות מעריב (מוסף שבת), 6/24/05 (Moshe Gorali, “ There are no people like Rami Dotan, but there is corruption in the IDF ,” Maariv () 24.6.05)) - an interview with Avihai Mandelblit (Hebrew)
• עמוס הראל הפרקליט הצבאי הראשי, תת אלוף אביחי מנדלבליט, מדבר על עופרת יצוקה, צ'יקו תמיר וגם על בצ ם свин свин .9 .9 .9 .9 .9 .9, 9 Chico Tamire and about “Beceleme” ”,“ Ha-Arez ”(18.9.09)) - interview with Avihai Mandelblit (Hebrew)
• Interview with Avihai Mandelblit regarding the Conflict off the coast of Gaza in 2010 , on the radio Echo of Moscow (17.6.10) (Russian)
• Video of Avihai Mandelblit’s lecture on “Legal Aspects in National Security Policy” at Tel Aviv University (1.2.11) (Hebrew)
• Video of Avihai Mandelblit’s lecture on “Legal Aspects of Immigration to Israel” at Tel Aviv University (11.11.12) (Hebrew)