A key litmus test amongst Americans as to whether they support Israel or not is their opinion of Prime Minister Netanyahu. If they disapprove of the Israeli Premier it is considered tantamount to an attack on Israel. There is very little awareness that Bibi and his Likud Party only received twenty - five percent of the vote in the 2016 election and that he is the subject of widespread criticism in Israel, most recently in relation to four ongoing criminal investigations.
AMERICAN MEDIA COVERAGE OF ISRAEL
The media coverage of Israel, America’s ally in the Middle East, is largely positive emphasizing their incredible economic strides and the marked improvement of the political position as a result of the changing dynamic in that region as the open warfare between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims escalates. Added to that is the good press that their biblical Tikkun Olim program, (Heal The World), generates where the highly trained Israeli disaster teams descend on catastrophes all over the world. Nevertheless it is strange that the media have all but ignored the serious legal problems Bibi Netanyahu and his family are facing.
While the American media is focussed on the deepening drama surrounding the investigation by the Special Prosecutor into Russian involvement in the Presidential election and matters related to the saga including possible criminal activity, their Israeli counterparts are preoccupied too, on a daily basis, with their own leader’s longstanding “ethical” crises. The reassuring factor in both these disturbing circumstances is that both societies are in uproar about what is being interpreted as a threat to democracy and accountability. There is the belief and hope that the two Democracies have enough checks and balances to ensure justice.
BIBI’S WOES
Bibi Netanyahu, that energy bunny four term Israeli Prime Minister who has been bouncing around on the Israeli political scene forever, is knee deep in criminal investigations that surround him and his family. His wife, Sara, has already been indicted for diverting public funds for their personal use. The thrust of the accusations against her include using State resources for private parties and for household repairs. Currently there are four probes being conducted by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit which impact on the Premier. Like his American counterpart Robert Mueller, Mandelblit is proceeding ever so slowly, to the extent that opposition members are arguing that he is protecting the PM. There are four hot issues involving bribery, corruption and exerting undue influence in dockets labelled Case 1000, Case 2000, Case 3000 and Case 4000.
Bibi like his soul mate, The Donald, is crying foul that all this legal attention is political. The two also continuously whine that the media are out to get them. Both, in addition also are facing political pressures that threaten their ability to get anything done while their approval numbers drop dramatically. The pair are also being thwarted and shackled by the judicial systems in their respective countries.
The Israeli Premier too like the POTUS has a long history of skirting around the fringes of the law. In 1990’s an investigation into fraud and breach of trust resulted in a recommendation for indictment but the then AG declined to prosecute. Netanyahu is slightly ahead in the current criminal stakes as he has already been interviewed by the Attorney General’s Office.
THE CURRENT CASES
CASE 1000: This concerns allegations of ongoing pay for play rewards that Bibi collected over a long period from Businessmen Arnon Milchan, an Israeli Hollywood Producer and James Packer, an Australian Casino mogul. The charges include that the latter two on demand from Netanyahu provided thousands of dollars of champagne, cigars, plane tickets, hotel bookings and jewelry. Code words and couriers were utilized in their delivery. Milchan’s quid pro quo is believed to be favors in the Israeli telecom industry and Bibi intervening to get him visas to America while Packer received permanent residency in Israel which is rare for a non jew. It is rumored that Packer benefited in that he avoided high Australian taxes. Packer has been AWOL from Israel for some months thus avoiding a date with the Israeli Justice Department. Bibi has acknowledged gifts but these were from friends who received nothing in return. This charge was probably the basis for the three hour interview by the prosecutors that the Israeli President recently endured. Following the latter they announced that they had upgraded their enquiry into a criminal investigation.
CASE 2000: Here the Israeli PM allegedly conspired with Arnon Mozes the owner of an Israeli daily, Yediot Acharonot, that consistently criticized Netanyahu. The newspaper circulation had decreased as a result of the success of another media outlet, Israel Hayom, which was given away free. Here the story takes on a more local flavor as the latter paper is owned by American billionaire, Trump and Bibi supporter, Sheldon Adelson.
According to tapes that are apparently in the hands of the police Bibi offered either to introduce legislation that would prohibit the free distribution of newspapers and or discuss the matter with Adelson to lay off. This would in effect reestablish Mozes’s Yediot as the most read paper. For this favor the Yediot would cover Bibi more favorably. Once again the PM does no deny that these conversations took place but he claims he was trying to fool Mozes and didn’t intend to carry through with the quid pro quo. Haunting Bibi however is the fact that Adelson and his wife have given two interviews to the investigating team. The American magnate has maintained that the subject of the discussions was “economic”. It has been reported that there were a hundred and twenty phone calls between the Israeli Prime Minister and the Las Vegas mogul.
THE BIGGEST CORRUPTION CASE IN ISRAEL’S HISTORY - CASE 3000
CASE 3000: This matter involves 2 billion Euro of public moneys. It is alleged that there was corruption in the purchase of three submarines and four patrol boats from a German Company ThyssenKrupp. While Bibi, hasn’t as yet been named many of his close associates have been in what is steadily escalating into the most serious corruption scandal in Israel’s history. There have already been ten arrests including some very prominent Israelis, so the enquiry is pretty far advanced. A close confidant of the Premier, who is said to be his personal lawyer, David Shimron, represented the German Company. Both Shimron and Netanyahu advocated that the bid process for the submarines be abandoned. Shimron is currently under house arrest.
The arrests of the other individuals have varying connections with Netanyahu. The most troublesome detention is that of the PM’s Chief of Staff, David Sharan, who has an office right next to him and who is involved in every conversation and decision made by the PM. Another arrestee is Michael Ganor who attempted to bribe Government officials to be involved in the negotiations. He has been turned by the prosecution and will be giving evidence for the State. It stretches credibility that the Premier, who punted for a no bid contract, knew nothing about the criminality. As Haaretz, the left wing Israeli newspaper has maintained, “A clueless Netanyahu is just as bad as a complicit one”.
CASE 4000: Again Bibi is not as yet a target of this sordid corruption case where all rules were dropped to favor a national telephone company Bezeq. The Premier was dealing with monopoly issues related to that company which had allegedly received favorable treatment from the Netanyahu government. The State Comptroller then charged that Netanyahu was a personal friend of the controlling shareholder of Bezeq, Shaul Elovitch, who has been an outspoken supporter of the Premier for decades. Following upon this contretemps Netanyahu was forbidden to deal with the Bezeq issue. The job now is in the hands of the Director General of the Communications Ministry, Shlomo Filber, yet another member of the Prime Minister’s inner circle. The saga becomes more odious when it emerged that Filber was a controversial Netanyahu appointment who replaced the former Director General who was instituting reforms that were not in Bezeq’s interests. Filber has been fingered by the State Comptroller as being an agent of Bezeq within the Ministry.
OTHER WOES
Netanyahu is having a run in with the Supreme Court who are hardly being cooperative in helping him handle his political dilemmas with his coalition partners, the Religious Right. The latter have threatened to pull out of government unless two of recent decisions are reversed. One issue relates to compulsory military service for all - previously the ultra orthodox were exempted and the other a compromise he forged with the non orthodox jews so as to allow provision for worship at the Western Wall. Bibi had to consequently backtrack on both as a result of pressure from the Religious Right. Court challenges on his reversals have resulted in judicial injunctions against him to rectify the situation. Netanyahu also has been hammered both from the left and the right for his decisions regarding metal detectors on the Temple Mount, following the murder of Israelis. On top of that Bibi axing the Kol Israel Television News program was seen as an attack on the Freedom of Speech. Kol Israel has sentimental and historical connections to Israel as it was there before the State was formed.
All this drama in addition to the controversies that are part of his daily life - peace talks with Abbas, the expansion of settlements, the Iranian threats, terrorist attacks within Israel and the ongoing problems within his coalition. Also he is learning like everyone else that his newest best friend, Donald, is long on promises and short on delivering. There is the persistent report sourced to several informants that Trump, in a discussion with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, on the peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians argued that Netanyahu was a bigger problem than Abbas. The story persists in the teeth of denials.
The chickens are coming home to roost. He exploited right wing sentiment in Israel and now is being outflanked in every direction and is hostage to those very people for his existence.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
Even if Netanyahu somehow dodges the legal bullets his actions are a disgrace. The Israeli Justice Department put the previous Premier behind bars so that while they are in the same ambivalent situation as their American counterparts serving two masters - the Premier and Justice, there is little doubt as to their prime commitment. Nevertheless they are obviously proceeding cautiously. Case 1000 with records, tapes and witnesses of the pay for play might be the easiest to litigate. A successful prosecution in Case 2000 really depends on what Sheldon Adelson and his wife told the Attorney General’s Office. Cases 3000 and 4000 have massive political overtones and could bring down Netanyahu’s Government as well as himself.
Israel’s politics are always in a state of flux with Political Parties going off the map while others suddenly emerge. The problem is exacerbated by the quaint form of proportional representation that exists in that country thereby making it well nigh impossible for any one party in this day and age to gain enough seats to govern outright. Coalition governments are the order of the day. Whatever happens Netanyahu will not serve another term as Prime Minister since even if should survive his leadership is being challenged even within the Likud Party let alone how the cookie might crumble in the next general election.
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