Corruption probe tightens on Benjamin Netanyahu

The corruption scandal around Israel’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has deepened after several of his closest associates were arrested on suspicion of obstruction of justice, fraud and breach of trust.

The latest joint investigation between police and the Israel Securities Authority is the fourth to involve the Israeli leader or his inner circle, “entangling a growing number of those closest to the Prime Minister”, says CNN.

Among those arrested yesterday were Nir Hefetz, Netanyahu’s former family spokesperson who was accused of bribing a judge into dropping a criminal investigation involving the Prime Minister’s wife, and Shaul Elovitch, the multi-millionaire owner of an Israeli news organisation and a close friend of Netanyahu.

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While the Prime Minister has not been named as a suspect in relation to the former corruption scandal involving an Israeli telecommunications company, he has been implicated by association after Israeli media reported he received favourable coverage for himself and his family while he was acting Minister of Communications from late 2014 to February last year.

The New York Times says the latest allegations “significantly raise the level of political and legal peril the Prime Minister faces, suggesting that he or some in his camp could be exposed to charges of obstructing justice”.

Last week, in connection with two other cases, Israeli police recommended indicting Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, “opening the way for what could be the biggest challenge yet to the right-wing leader’s political survival”, says Reuters.

He is accused of receiving lavish gifts from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer. “In return, police say, Netanyahu had operated on Milchan’s behalf on US visa matters, introduced a tax break and connected him with an Indian businessman,” reports The Guardian.

Yet despite growing pressure, Netanyahu has remained defiant, slamming the latest wave of arrests as part of a media-propelled “witch-hunt”.

At home, opponents from the Israeli left are demanding he resign or declared himself “incapacitated” and “even Israel’s enemies have begun seizing on Netanyahu’s legal predicament”, says The New York Times.

On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif responded to threats from Netanyahu by alluding to Israel’s “domestic corruption” problem.

Netanyahu’s coalition partners will back him for now, as they wait for the attorney general to decide whether to indict him. But as suspicions grow, “it becomes more difficult politically to support Netanyahu”, says CNN.