Ayalon testifies: Lieberman told me to appoint Ben Aryeh

In a dramatic court session, former Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon — who was booted out of the Yisrael Beytenu Knesset list by party chairman Avigdor Lieberman ahead of the last election — on Thursday testified against his former boss on charges of fraud and breach of trust.

Lieberman is accused of working, as Foreign Minister, to promote diplomat Ze’ev Ben Aryeh and appointing him Israel’s ambassador to Latvia in exchange for privileged information, provided by Ben Aryeh, on a corruption investigation against him.

Initially, it was Ayalon’s testimony to police in the case that prompted the prosecution to expand the charges against Lieberman.

In his testimony Thursday, Ayalon detailed the chain of events that led up to Ben Aryeh’s appointment. He said that Lieberman had specifically instructed him to advance the appointment, arguing that Ben Aryeh was the most suitable candidate for the position.

„I was in his (Lieberman’s) office, we spoke about diplomatic issues, and toward the end of the meeting he told me that for the position of ambassador to Latvia, we need to appoint Ben Aryeh,” Ayalon recounted. At the time, Ayalon headed the Foreign Ministry’s appointments committee.

The former deputy minister testified that he had not known that Ben Aryeh had handed classified information about a police investigation to Lieberman, nor did he know about the ministry supervisor’s report criticizing Ben Aryeh’s conduct as Belarusian ambassador, the post he held before being promoted to Latvian ambassador. That report characterized Ben Aryeh as a character „out of a Charles Dickens novel.” Ayalon said further that Lieberman had not informed him that he had spoken to the inspector about the latter’s concerns.

Ayalon’s testimony came in contrast with the testimony of the previous witnesses, who insisted that they did not recall any incident suggesting Lieberman’s involvement in the appointment process. Ben Aryeh himself testified that he did not recall giving Lieberman classified information.

On Tuesday, current Ambassador to France Yossi Gal, who was involved in Ben Aryeh’s appointment, contradicted Ayalon, who had told investigators that he had coordinated Ben Aryeh’s appointment with him ahead of the vote, telling him that it was Lieberman’s wish. Gal, for his part, testified that he does not recall coordinating his vote with Ayalon, or being told that Lieberman wanted Ben Aryeh’s appointment to go through.

Former head of the ministry’s human resources department and current Ambassador to Thailand Shimon Roded also testified on Tuesday. He too claimed that he „doesn’t remember any specific request about Ben Aryeh, but I can’t completely rule it out.”

Ayalon was asked whether Lieberman’s decision to remove him from the party’s Knesset list had any impact on his testimony, to which Ayalon replied: „I am not vengeful and I don’t hold grudges, and in the context of the trial, it has absolutely no significance to me. A trial is about justice and truth; it is not at all about my personal political future.”

„I am saddened by reports suggesting that I have ulterior motives,” he added. „It hurts me. I don’t accept it.”

Lieberman’s attorney Yaakov Weinroth’s strategy was to paint Ayalon as an unreliable witness tainted by motivations of revenge. Over and over again during cross-examination, Weinroth attacked Ayalon’s credibility, first in Ayalon’s statement that there were three people in a meeting on ambassadorial appointments when there were in fact only two; to Ayalon’s assertion that he made an agreement with a radio journalist before a live interview not to talk about the Lieberman trial, when the journalist in question said there was no such agreement; as well as Ayalon’s acting as a source for another journalist but then telling police that he wasn’t.

Ayalon also recounted Lieberman’s justification for appointing Ben Aryeh. „He (Lieberman) said that he (Ben Aryeh) was the best. In this case, like in other cases, I didn’t give it too much thought. The only memorable thing about it was that I was surprised, because I had no idea that he (Ben Aryeh) was even in the running. Normally, before appointment committee meetings, the candidates make a pilgrimage. I always had an open door policy, and I saw all the candidates, but in this instance, I hadn’t seen him, so I didn’t know.”

„Since Mr. Lieberman is an expert on the former Soviet Union and the Baltic states, of which Latvia is one, I assumed that he was an authority, based on his very, very deep familiarity with the region,” Ayalon said.

Ayalon testified further that Lieberman had habitually intervened in the Foreign Ministry’s professional appointments. „Of course he was involved, it would be inconceivable for a minister not to be involved in the appointment of senior officials. It was not only his right, it was his obligation. He isn’t the first minister to be involved.”

When asked about his acquaintance with Ben Aryeh prior to the appointment, Ayalon replied that it wasn’t more than superficial. „I first met him when he was given the office adjacent to mine. He told me that he had been appointed diplomatic adviser to the foreign minister. Usually, anyone appointed to that position is someone whom the minister trusts both professionally and personally.”

„It is a source of envy for all ministry employees, to be appointed a minister’s diplomatic adviser. The professional aspect spans the globe and the proximity to power gives the position a degree of prestige. In addition, it usually serves as a springboard to more senior positions. The adviser normally gets promoted faster and wins more desirable positions,” Ayalon explained.

The prosecutor confronted Ayalon with an interview he had given to Channel 1 in November of last year, in which he did not mention Lieberman’s request to appoint Ben Aryeh, and claimed that he didn’t remember the entire conversation. In response, Ayalon said that „I tried to evade the question three times, but I was in a corner. No one expects me to publicly incriminate an acting minister, with all the possible implications. With all due respect to Ms. Even [Geula Even, Channel 1 anchorwoman], she is not a judge, and her studio is not a courtroom. As far as I’m concerned, I was being diplomatic.”

Ayalon said that after the appointment was approved, he reported to Lieberman. „After decisions, I would let him know. In this case, since he had a preferred candidate, I informed him. I told him that the Ben Aryeh appointment had been approved, and he thanked me.”