Police: J'lem mayoral candidate ordered watch on political rival

Jerusalem businessman Nir Barkat commissioned surveillance of the Israel Police representative in the United States, the police said Wednesday. Barkat denied any knowledge of the affair.

Two private detectives were held for questioning earlier this week after following Major General Mickey Levy in the United States for a week. The detectives tailed Levy and members of his family, questioned his neighbors and friends and gathered information about him.

At first, police suspected that the surveillance was ordered by criminals. After investigating, however, they concluded that it was Barkat, who allegedly wanted to obtain "embarrassing information" about Levy, a potential rival in next year's Jerusalem mayoral elections, police said.

Levy recently said in private conversations that he was considering running for mayor. Barkat, who ran for mayor in the last election, is planning to do so again.

Police sources said that as soon as they found that the surveillance had not been ordered by criminals and that there were no suspicions of foul play, they closed the case.

The inquiry was opened after Levy complained that he was being followed. The private detectives questioned friends of the Levy family and members of the synagogue he attends. Among other things, they asked about Levy's involvement in the proceedings to extradite Zeev Rosenstein to the U.S. a few months ago.

During their stay in the U.S., the detectives met Levy's daughter while she was dining in a restaurant. They started a conversation with her and asked whether her father had fixed her up with a green card, whether the Israeli embassy was paying for her car's gas and if her father was raising funds for a possible future campaign.

When Levy realized that he was being followed, he reported it to the FBI, fearing that criminal elements were trying to harm him or his family. Following this complaint, the Israel Police's international crime unit started a probe as well.

The unit found that the two private eyes were Moshe Boler and Shahar Arnon, who had been contracted by Adi Investigations, an Israeli detective agency. The two told the police after their arrest that they had been hired by Barkat, through his associate, media adviser Lior Mai, police said.

The inquiry cost the Israel Police some NIS 18,000, not including expenses.

"It's not important whether criminals, politicians or anyone else ordered the surveillance and inquiry," Levy said Wednesday. "I take an extremely grim view of this. Following a senior Israeli diplomat is grave even if it has no criminal aspects. Someone here has crossed a red line."

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski called Levy Wednesday and told him that he was disgusted by the infringement on his privacy and by the "persecution of an honest man who defended Jerusalem."

"This is atrocious. Even if Nir Barkat lost the elections and the polls do not bode well for him, he must obey the law," Lupolianski commented.

Barkat said he learned of the affair from the media. "If anything was done, it was without my knowledge or agreement," he said. "Even if someone thinks he acted on my behalf, he did so without asking me and I'm sorry for it."

"I respect Levy and wish to explore ways to collaborate with him to preserve Jerusalem's integrity," Barkat added. "Levy is a good man, and I will be happy to work with him if he's interested."

A source at Adi Investigations said Wednesday that the private investigation against Levy was carried out lawfully. He said the inquiry was ordered by a third party, but he did not know who was behind it.