Israeli police have said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara should be charged with fraud and bribery, prompting immediate calls for him to resign.
The couple are suspected of awarding regulatory favours to the Bezeq telecoms group worth hundreds of millions of dollars in return for positive media coverage on the website Walla.
Police say the investigation, which included the testimony of 60 witnesses and has seen two of the prime minister’s close confidants turn state evidence, revealed that Netanyahu and Bezeq boss Shaul Elovitch engaged in a “bribe-based relationship”.
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Between 2012 and 2017, when he relinquished the government’s communication brief responsible for overseeing press regulation, the prime minister is said to have “blatantly intervened” on a near-daily basis on the news website to promote flattering articles while quelling critical stories.
Police have already recommended indicting Netanyahu on corruption charges relating to two other investigations, one for accepting gifts from billionaire friends and a second for trying to strike a deal with a different leading media company for better coverage in return for limitations being placed on a rival newspaper.
However, the latest revelation is by far the most damaging and could ultimately prove fatal to his political career.
Tamar Zandberg, head of the opposition Meretz party, said: “The most serious bribery case yet leaves no room for doubt: a prime minister who is accused of the most serious offence for a public servant in the Israeli rulebook cannot keep serving one minute longer.”
“The prime minister has no moral mandate to keep his seat and must resign today. Israel must go to elections” he added.
The BBC says the 69-year-old prime minister has been questioned by investigators “a number of times”, but Netanyahu has strenuously denied the allegations and instead blamed them on a political witch hunt orchestrated by the media.
“The police recommendations regarding me and my wife don’t surprise anyone,” he said in a statement. “These recommendations were decided upon and leaked even before the investigation began.”
“Netanyahu’s colleagues in the ruling Likud party have lined up behind their leader, attacking outgoing police commissioner Roni Alsheikh for releasing the recommendation on his last day on the job”, reports The Guardian.
However, “the latest development further threatens the wobbly government, already weakened by the recent departure of defence minister Avigdor Lieberman and his party”, says the paper.
It is now up to the Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, to make the final decision as to whether to indict the prime minister.
While his coalition partners have said they will wait for the attorney general before making decisions on how to react, Sky News says “Netanyahu could call a snap election because of the legal proceedings, with the next national vote not due until November 2019”.
“However, he may want to seek a renewed mandate from the people to force a prosecutor to think twice before indicting him,” says the broadcaster.
