Report: Prosecution sends recommendations against Netanyahu to state attorney

The state prosecution team working on Cases 1000 (the “Illegal Gifts Affair”) and 2000 (the “Yediot Aharonot-Israel Hayom Affair”) against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent its recommendation for corruption to State Attorney Shai Nitzan, Channel 10 reported late Sunday.

The report suggested that Economic Crimes Division Director Liat Ben-Ari’s recommendations were for an indictment against Netanyahu for bribery in Case 1000, which would be consistent with public comments she made in May 2017.

It is also expected that she and her prosecution team will send their recommendations to Nitzan shortly regarding Case 4000 (the “Bezeq-Walla Affair”).

Nitzan makes recommendations to Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, who will make the final decision.

Mandelblit has made it clear that he will make a decision on all of the cases at the same time regardless of when recommendations come in.

The Justice Ministry refused to confirm or deny the report.

The Jerusalem Post was the first to report in June that Mandelblit will likely decide on an indictment against Netanyahu for bribery at least for Case 4000, with a strong chance for Case 1000, and with Case 2000 being less clear.

In May 2017, Ben-Ari said at a Tel Aviv conference on bribery that “there is no such thing as gifts which are too small” to criminally investigate.

Ben-Ari then continued to tell the Israel Bar Association audience, “When we are referring to presents worth hundreds of thousands of shekels, it is hard for me to accept that we are

talking solely about presents between friends.”

“I know that about myself and my friends, none of us receive presents of that value,” said Ben-Ari in answer to questions by panel moderators, lawyers Yael Grossman and Ilan Shadi.

Ben-Ari was careful in May 2017 to state that every bribery and criminal case must be looked at in light of its specific circumstances, but the facts she described in her answer dovetail closely with those reported in

Case 1000.

Following her comments, Nitzan publicly denied that she had been opining on the Netanyahu cases and said her theoretical comments had been misunderstood.

However, according to the report, it appears that her comments fit together exactly with her final conclusions.

Although Mandelblit makes the final call on whether to indict, Ben-Ari was the famous victorious lead prosecutor against former prime minister Ehud Olmert in the so-called “Holyland Affair” and any recommendation from her to indict Netanyahu will be hard for Mandelblit to reject. •