Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Tuesday accused a media personality closely associated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of blackmail, drawing mixed responses within the premier’s Likud party and eliciting a call from the opposition for a criminal probe of the pundit.

Jacob Bardugo, a commentator on right-wing outlets Channel 14 and Radio Galey Israel, has blamed Levin for the government’s failure so far to deliver on its promise to oust Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

Speaking on Galey Israel Tuesday, Levin said Bardugo, “because of personal matters, obsessively slanders me from every platform, every day.”

“It mainly benefits one person — the one who calls himself the president of the Supreme Court,” said Levin, referring to Chief Justice Isaac Amit, whom the government has boycotted.

“He wants me to be weakened from within,” said the justice minister of Barudgo. “When a person comes to me with demands that no decent person would agree to and tells me ‘if you don’t meet these demands…’ — I don’t want to use the words he said,” Levin added, without elaborating.

Bardugo denied the accusation in an interview with Galey Israel, saying he had “ideological disagreements” with Levin and other right-wing ministers.

“Levin’s words have been taken to a totally bizarre place,” he said, accusing the left of seeking to sow discord on the right. “I won’t stay........

© The Times of Israel