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| Israeli Police Urge Bribery and Fraud Charges Against Netanyahu. Again. | Israeli Police Urge Bribery and Fraud Charges Against Netanyahu. Again. |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| JERUSALEM — The Israeli police recommended on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on bribery, fraud and other charges, accusing him of trading regulatory favors for fawning news coverage. | JERUSALEM — The Israeli police recommended on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on bribery, fraud and other charges, accusing him of trading regulatory favors for fawning news coverage. |
| It was the third separate case this year in which the police have urged that Mr. Netanyahu be prosecuted on corruption charges, and it dealt a damaging blow to his teetering governing coalition, with elections likely to be called at any moment. | |
| Mr. Netanyahu is not accused of getting rich himself, but of enriching Bezeq, the country’s biggest telecommunications company, at the public’s expense and for the sake of his own image and that of his wife and family. | Mr. Netanyahu is not accused of getting rich himself, but of enriching Bezeq, the country’s biggest telecommunications company, at the public’s expense and for the sake of his own image and that of his wife and family. |
| Between 2012 and 2017, the police said, Mr. Netanyahu “intervened in a blatant and ongoing manner, and sometimes even daily,” in coverage at Walla, a news website owned by Bezeq, ensuring “flattering articles and pictures” were published and “removing critical content” about him and his family. | Between 2012 and 2017, the police said, Mr. Netanyahu “intervened in a blatant and ongoing manner, and sometimes even daily,” in coverage at Walla, a news website owned by Bezeq, ensuring “flattering articles and pictures” were published and “removing critical content” about him and his family. |
| The police said that Mr. Netanyahu and his associates sought to exert sway over Walla’s hiring of senior editors and reporters. In return, the police said, Mr. Netanyahu, who personally oversaw the communications ministry from 2014 to 2017, rewarded Bezeq with enormously lucrative concessions, including approval of its merger with Yes, a satellite television company, despite the objections of lower-level ministry officials. | The police said that Mr. Netanyahu and his associates sought to exert sway over Walla’s hiring of senior editors and reporters. In return, the police said, Mr. Netanyahu, who personally oversaw the communications ministry from 2014 to 2017, rewarded Bezeq with enormously lucrative concessions, including approval of its merger with Yes, a satellite television company, despite the objections of lower-level ministry officials. |
| The police said they had seized about $32 million from those involved during the investigation, which has been known as Case 4000. | The police said they had seized about $32 million from those involved during the investigation, which has been known as Case 4000. |
| In addition to Mr. Netanyahu, the police recommended that his wife, Sara, be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and disruption of investigative and judicial proceedings. | In addition to Mr. Netanyahu, the police recommended that his wife, Sara, be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and disruption of investigative and judicial proceedings. |
| In a statement, Mr. Netanyahu called the recommendations unsurprising, owing to previously published leaks, and repeated his contention that they would come to nothing. He noted that such recommendations have no legal weight, and that other recommendations against public figures had been rejected recently. | In a statement, Mr. Netanyahu called the recommendations unsurprising, owing to previously published leaks, and repeated his contention that they would come to nothing. He noted that such recommendations have no legal weight, and that other recommendations against public figures had been rejected recently. |
| The police also urged the indictment of others on a variety of charges, including Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Bezeq; his wife, Iris; their son, Or, an aide to his father and board member in some of their holdings; Stella Handler, chief executive of Bezeq; Amikam Shorer, a senior Bezeq officer; and Zeev Rubinstein, a businessman close to the Elovitch and Netanyahu families who is deputy chairman of the Israel Bonds corporation. | The police also urged the indictment of others on a variety of charges, including Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Bezeq; his wife, Iris; their son, Or, an aide to his father and board member in some of their holdings; Stella Handler, chief executive of Bezeq; Amikam Shorer, a senior Bezeq officer; and Zeev Rubinstein, a businessman close to the Elovitch and Netanyahu families who is deputy chairman of the Israel Bonds corporation. |
| The police recommendations, which concluded a long-running investigation that has haunted Mr. Netanyahu for months, added to the sense of looming peril facing Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which has already narrowly averted one collapse and holds just a one-seat majority in the Knesset. | The police recommendations, which concluded a long-running investigation that has haunted Mr. Netanyahu for months, added to the sense of looming peril facing Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which has already narrowly averted one collapse and holds just a one-seat majority in the Knesset. |
| Mr. Netanyahu was already facing likely indictment in two other scandals. One is known as Case 1000, involving gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and another, called Case 2000, involves a similar allegation that he negotiated with the publisher of Yediot Ahronot, a leading newspaper, for favorable coverage in exchange for using his influence to curtail a rival paper, Israel Hayom. In that case, the alleged deal never came to fruition. | Mr. Netanyahu was already facing likely indictment in two other scandals. One is known as Case 1000, involving gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and another, called Case 2000, involves a similar allegation that he negotiated with the publisher of Yediot Ahronot, a leading newspaper, for favorable coverage in exchange for using his influence to curtail a rival paper, Israel Hayom. In that case, the alleged deal never came to fruition. |
| The attorney general, a political ally and appointee of Mr. Netanyahu’s, has indicated he was waiting for the completion of the investigation of Case 4000 before making a decision on all three pending cases at once. Any actual indictment could still be many months off, and could come only after Mr. Netanyahu is given a chance to argue against it at a hearing. | The attorney general, a political ally and appointee of Mr. Netanyahu’s, has indicated he was waiting for the completion of the investigation of Case 4000 before making a decision on all three pending cases at once. Any actual indictment could still be many months off, and could come only after Mr. Netanyahu is given a chance to argue against it at a hearing. |
| Sara Netanyahu, for her part, is already on trial on fraud and breach of trust charges over allegations that she improperly spent around $100,000 of public funds, hiring celebrity chefs to cater private meals while covering up the fact that the prime minister’s residence already employed a full-time cook. | Sara Netanyahu, for her part, is already on trial on fraud and breach of trust charges over allegations that she improperly spent around $100,000 of public funds, hiring celebrity chefs to cater private meals while covering up the fact that the prime minister’s residence already employed a full-time cook. |
| In his response to the police recommendations, Mr. Netanyahu faulted what he called “the transparent timing of their publication.” Indeed, the police’s announcement was something of a parting shot for Chief Roni Alsheich, whose term ends on Monday and whom Mr. Netanyahu has frequently attacked over the corruption investigations. | In his response to the police recommendations, Mr. Netanyahu faulted what he called “the transparent timing of their publication.” Indeed, the police’s announcement was something of a parting shot for Chief Roni Alsheich, whose term ends on Monday and whom Mr. Netanyahu has frequently attacked over the corruption investigations. |
| Mr. Alsheich’s efforts to extend his term were rejected by Mr. Netanyahu’s allies in the governing coalition. | Mr. Alsheich’s efforts to extend his term were rejected by Mr. Netanyahu’s allies in the governing coalition. |
| But the man named by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to succeed Mr. Alsheich, Maj. Gen. Moshe Edri, was rejected on Friday by a screening committee that said his appointment would “harm public trust in the police.” | But the man named by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to succeed Mr. Alsheich, Maj. Gen. Moshe Edri, was rejected on Friday by a screening committee that said his appointment would “harm public trust in the police.” |
| That leaves the police without a chief, and the government appearing increasingly in disarray. | That leaves the police without a chief, and the government appearing increasingly in disarray. |