Avichai Mandelblit

Avichai Mandelblit was born in 1963 in Tel Aviv

Mandelblit was born on July 29, 1963, and grew up in Tel Aviv. His father Baruch was a clothing merchant, an Irgun veteran and deputy head of the Israel Football Association. At age 26 he became Orthodox and a disciple of rabbi Baruch Ashlag.

He studied law at Tel Aviv University through the Atuda program and finished his bachelor's degree in 1985. He later earned a Ph.D. in law from Bar-Ilan University.

He joined the IDF in 1985 and held many posts in the Military Advocate General's Office, including military judge in Gaza. From 2004 to 2011 he was Chief Military Advocate General, and he was promoted to Aluf in 2009.

After a period as a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, he became Cabinet Secretary in 2013 under Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2016 he was appointed Attorney General. In November 2019 he indicted the sitting prime minister Netanyahu on charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery.

In 2022 he was appointed a professor of law at Bar-Ilan University, and in July 2023 he became dean of the law faculty at the Academic Center for Law and Business. He has criticized the government's proposed judicial overhaul.