Israeli Police Call For Charging Netanyahu With Bribery

Haaretz reports:

The police and Israel Securities Authority on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau and his wife, Sara, as well as media mogul Shaul Elovitch and his wife, Iris, for bribery and other corruption charges in the investigation dubbed Case 4000.

This is the third case in which the police have recommended charging the prime minister with bribery. The statement recommending charges against Netanyahu in the case were published on the last day in office for Commissioner Roni Alsheich, who is stepping down after a three-year term.

Case 4000 involves suspicions that Netanyahu, in his role as communications minister from 2014 to 2017 (while he was also prime minister), intervened with regulators to help Bezeq with a deal worth to Elovitch some 1 billion shekels. In exchange, Elovitch, a long-time friend of Netanyahu’s, allegedly ordered Walla to provide favorable coverage of the prime minister and his wife, Sara.

Reuters reports:

If indicted, the four-term prime minister would be facing one of the greatest challenges to his political survival. Despite his dominance of Israeli politics, the newest police recommendation comes just after his right-wing coalition’s majority was reduced to a precarious one seat in parliament.

The final decision on whether to indict rests with Israel’s attorney-general, who is still weighing whether to charge Netanyahu in the other two cases. Most of Netanyahu’s coalition partners have said they will wait for a decision by the attorney-general before making any decisions about how to react to the allegations.