The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Netanyahu faces new scandal in media adviser’s bribe case
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already reeling from a damaging police report into alleged corruption, faced yet another scandal Tuesday — with allegations that a longtime confidant attempted to bribe a judge in exchange for dropping a corruption case against the Israeli leader’s wife.
Netanyahu quickly denounced the allegations. But they presented an embarrassing new headache for him as a growing list of members of his inner circle gets swept up in scandals.
The latest case surrounds Nir Hefetz, a longtime media adviser to Netanyahu and his family.
Hefetz is suspected of suggesting, through a middleman, to Judge Hila Gerstel in 2015 that she could be appointed attorney general if she dismissed a pending case against Sara Netanyahu’s excessive household spending. Hefetz and the middleman are being held in police custody.
The offer never materialized, and Israel’s current attorney general recommended last fall indicting Mrs. Netanyahu in the case.
But Israeli media, including columnist Ben Caspit, who broke the story, said the judge was shocked by the offer. Police said Tuesday she had given testimony as part of their investigation.
The Haaretz daily said Gerstel had spoken about the incident at the time to her colleague Esther Hayut, who is now the Supreme Court’s chief justice. Media reports said that Hayut is expected to be questioned by police.
Netanyahu said the latest suspicions were a continuation of a wider media witch hunt against him and his family.
“I never consulted Nir Hefetz on this matter, he never proposed anything to me on this issue, and you know what? I don’t believe that he suggested this possibility with anyone,” Netanyahu said in a statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday, calling the claims “total madness.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Hefetz was identified as a central suspect in another case. Police said Hefetz and Shlomo Filber, the former director of the Communications Ministry under Netanyahu, are suspected of promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel’s Bezeq telecom company. In return, Bezeq’s popular news site, Walla, allegedly provided favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his family.
Bezeq’s controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch is also in custody, along with his wife, son and other top Bezeq executives.
Former journalists at the Walla news site have attested to being pressured to refrain from negative reporting of Netanyahu.
The prime minister, who held the communications
portfolio until last year, has not yet been named as a suspect in either of this week’s cases.
But the cases gave new fuel to opposition calls for Netanyahu to step aside as he fights a growing list of corruption scandals. Netanyahu dismissed the investigations as “delusional, fabricated claims” that are part of an “orchestrated campaign” against him and vowed to “continue to lead the state of Israel responsibly, discreetly and with great dedication.”
Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition Yesh Atid Party, said that if Netanyahu doesn’t want to resign, he should at least declare himself “incapacitated,” allowing a caretaker prime minister to be appointed.
“Israel deserves a full-time prime minister who is not engaged in anything else. Let him choose whatever path is convenient for him,” Lapid said.
“Netanyahu has become a liability for the citizens of Israel,” added Avi Gabbay, leader of the opposition Labor Party. “Every day that he stays in office is damage to the country.”