Graft probe puts PM on shaky ground
Some believe Israel’s Netanyahu will not survive latest investigation
PRIME Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a graft probe some believe could force him from office, but the fourterm premier has overcome legal troubles in the past and remains a towering figure in Israeli politics.
Police questioned Netanyahu at his official residence in Jerusalem for about three hours on Monday night over tens of thousands of dollars in gifts allegedly given to him by wealthy supporters.
While an inquiry has been ongoing for months, it has now been elevated to a criminal probe and news of his questioning shook the Israeli political scene.
Netanyahu, 67, bluntly told his opponents on Monday not to begin any celebrations yet, pledging as he has previously that there would be nothing because there was nothing.
But some analysts argued that the threat seemed more substantial than previously.
“The last couple of times that he was in this situation, he tried to say: ‘You go after my wife, you go after my personal life, it’s an illegal way to try to reverse democratic elections’,” Gayil Talshir, a political science professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, said.
“I guess this will be the strategy this time also, but it looks more serious.”
Much remains unknown about the investigation being overseen by attorney-general Avichai Mandelblit. He has merely confirmed that Netanyahu is suspected of receiving gifts from businessmen.
US billionaire and World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder – of the Estee Lauder cosmetics family – has been among those questioned in the probe over gifts he allegedly gave Netanyahu and alleged spending on trips for him, Israeli media reported.
Lauder has long been seen as an ally of Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has also acknowledged receiving money from French tycoon Arnaud Mimran, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in France over a scam involving the trade of carbon emissions permits.
Netanyahu’s office said he had received $40 000 (R551 214) in contributions from Mimran in 2001, when he was not in office, as part of a fund for public activities and to promote Israel.
The allegations have put the right-wing premier’s opponents – including from within his party – on alert for signs of his public support weakening.
Recent polls have suggested that if elections were held now, his Likud party would finish behind the centrist Yesh Atid, but that voters still prefer Netanyahu as prime minister.
Many analysts say that can be attributed to voters not seeing a viable alternative to him.
Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ehud Olmert, was forced to resign while dogged by corruption allegations and is now serving 27 months in prison.
Netanyahu and his family have overcome similar accusations in earlier years.
In 2000, prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to indict him and his wife, Sara, following an investigation.
The probe then looked at whether they had unlawfully kept gifts presented to Netanyahu during his first term as prime minister, from 1996 and 1999.
Last month, police again questioned Sara over allegations that the couple used public funds to cover personal spending, Israeli media said. – AFP