Detained Ashdod Union Boss Barred From Port for 90 Days

Kfar Sava Magistrate’s Court yesterday ordered that Ashdod Port union boss Alon Hassan remain in jail until Friday, in connection with a wide-ranging police investigation into alleged improprieties at the port.

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Hassan will then remain under house arrest, and be forced to stay away from the port for 90 days.

The investigation into Hassan is part of broader suspicions of extortion, corruption and conflicts of interest, centering around alleged efforts to steer business to Dana Port Group, a company headed by a friend and former business partner of Hassan’s, Yaniv Balter.

Hassan spoke on his own behalf at the court hearing, in response to the police request for an order barring him from returning to the port. He told Judge Michael Karshen that he was being framed in an effort to prevent him from pursuing his union activities on behalf of the port’s workers. “The two ways to do that are either to kill me or try to incriminate me,” Hassan said.

The judge ordered that three other defendants detained in the case – Yaniv Balter; his brother, Uri; and Hassan’s cousin, David Hassan, all of whom are executives at Dana Logistics – be released to house arrest on Friday, and remain there until June 16. They are also to be barred from Ashdod Port and the Dana Group’s offices for 90 days.