(Photo of Netanyahu and his wife in The Washington Post are by Abir Sultan/Shutterstock.)Donald Trump has made enemies of our democratically-elected allies, and cozied up to authoritarian figures. It now seems that authoritarianism is not the only aspect of a leader he admires. He also likes leaders that are as corrupt as he is. Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of bribery and corruption by the Israeli police (for the third time).
Will he be charged. That's up to the Israeli Attorney General -- who refused to press charges on the first two accusations. It seems that retaining power is more important than rooting out corruption in Israel (just as it is in the United States with Republicans in power).
Here part of how Netanyahu's most recent problem is reported in The Huffington Post:
Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on bribery charges related to a corruption case involving Israel’s telecom giant, prompting immediate calls for his resignation. Police say their investigation has established an evidentiary foundation to charge Netanyahu and his wife Sara with accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. The case revolves around suspicions that confidants of Netanyahu promoted regulations worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecom company in exchange for positive coverage of the prime minister on Bezeq’s subsidiary news website, Walla. Police have already recommended indicting Netanyahu on corruption charges in two other cases. One involves accepting gifts from billionaire friends, and the second revolves around alleged offers of advantageous legislation for a newspaper in return for positive coverage. The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the accusations as a witch hunt orchestrated by the media. . . . The Bezeq case, known as Case 4000, is the most serious of all those of which Netanyahu has been accused. Two of his top confidants have turned state witnesses and are believed to have provided police with incriminating evidence. Netanyahu held the government’s communications portfolio until last year and oversaw regulation in the field. Former journalists at the Walla news site have attested to being pressured to refrain from negative reporting of Netanyahu. Police say the investigation, which included the testimony of 60 witnesses, revealed that Netanyahu and Bezeq boss Shaul Elovitch engaged in a “bribe-based relationship.” From 2012 to 2017 the prime minister and his associates “blatantly intervened” on a near-daily basis in the Walla news site, using the connections with Elovitch to influence appointments there and to promote flattering articles and pictures while quelling critical stories of the prime minister and his family, police said. Police are also recommending charges be brought against Elovitch and members of his family.
