Netanyahu inquiry expands with new bribery allegations
JERUSALEM — The mushrooming corruption scandal plaguing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel took a surprising new turn Tuesday, with an allegation that one of his closest advisers had sought to bribe a judge into dropping a criminal investigation involving the prime minister’s wife.
At the same time, Israeli police said they had arrested several of Netanyahu’s friends and confidants, as well as top executives of Bezeq, the country’s biggest telecommunications company, in a widening inquiry into whether Netanyahu had traded official favors for favorable news coverage.
The new allegations significantly raise the level of political and legal peril the prime minister faces, suggesting that he or some in his camp could be exposed to charges of obstructing justice.
On Tuesday night, Netanyahu’s situation appeared to become even graver, as Israeli news organizations reported that one of those arrested — a top government official who reported directly to Netanyahu on the Bezeq affair — was in talks with prosecutors to become a government witness.
Netanyahu was already embattled after police recommended a week ago that he be prosecuted for accepting what they said were bribes worth nearly $300,000 from wealthy businessmen seeking government favors.
With this latest round of allegations he will come under even greater strains, accused by his critics on the left of saber rattling over Iran and pressured by the right to accept its agenda of expanding settlements and annexing the West Bank in return for its support.
Late Tuesday, Netanyahu released a video denying the newest allegations, calling them ‘‘hallucinatory,’’ ‘‘baseless’’ and part of a ‘‘campaign of persecution against me and my family that has been going on for years.’’
Israel’s enemies have begun seizing on Netanyahu’s legal predicament: In Munich on Sunday, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pointedly alluded to Israel’s ‘‘domestic corruption’’ problem in accusing Netanyahu of ‘‘aggression’’ to distract attention from his political troubles.
Back at home, opponents from the Israeli left and center are demanding that Netanyahu resign or declare himself ‘‘incapacitated’’: Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atid party, calling in vain for a no-confidence vote, said Monday that Netanyahu should appoint a temporary prime minister from within his own party.