Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu was interrogated (under caution, meaning he is a suspect) last night on suspicion of alleged
corruption. The interrogation lasted for three hours and was conducted at the
prime minister's residence in Jerusalem.
A white police vehicle from the Lahav 433rd unit with three
officers inside was seen arriving at Netanyahu’s official residence on Balfour
Street in Jerusalem. They spent more than three hours inside with the prime
minister.
Afterwards they issued a short statement, saying only that Netanyahu was
“questioned under caution on suspicion that he accepted (improper) benefits.
Netanyahu is expected to be
questioned at least once more prior to the completion of the investigation.
As the Obama administration shunned Israel last week, we warned that police were calling on Israeli Attorney
General Avichai Mandelblit to allow them to open
a full criminal investigation against
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Today, as Channel 2 reports, Israeli
police entered Bibi's home for questioning. The prime minister was quick to react, blasting "don't celebrate
too soon over corruption probe."
Tyler Durden reported last week, on Monday, December 26th, that Israeli police announced that they are absolutely convinced that a criminal
investigation will be opened in the next few days due to new documents that
were recently received in a special inquiry that began about 9 months ago.
The
offenses that Netanyahu allegedly will face will be bribery and
aggravated-fraud. In June it was reported that police had recently started
their secret investigation, with demand that no details be leaked to the media.
Attorney
General Mandelblit also allegedly instructed employees in the state
prosecutor’s office to investigate allegations that Netanyahu accepted 1 million euros (about
$1.1 million) from accused French fraudster Arnaud Mimran in 2009.
Earlier in December, in an apparently unrelated case, there were
calls for the Netanyahu to be investigated for his role in a Defense Ministry deal to purchase submarines from a German company that is partly
owned by the Iranian government.
The
affair overtook public debate in Israel last month, as accusations came about
that the Israeli prime minister may have been financially swayed in the
decision by his personal counsel David Shimron, who himself had ties with the
submarines’ builder, ThyssenKrupp. The purchase was opposed by sectors of the
defense establishment, including former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon.
“This
is not a happy day; this is a difficult day for Israel,” Herzog said at the
start of the weekly Zionist Union faction meeting. “We don’t have a drop of
schadenfreude.
Sources close to Netanyahu
were adamant Monday that the prime minister had done no wrong, and linked the
investigation to efforts to oust him from power.
MK David Amsalem (Likud) told
Army Radio that media “eagerness” over the investigations was threatening
Israel’s democratic foundations
“There is a motivation to
remove the right from power,” charged Amsalem. “We need to take away any
motivation other than that pertaining to the investigation itself. There is a
basic democratic principle that the people chose someone to lead the country.
That is the most important principle and it takes precedence over all others.
Police have collected a great
deal of “well-founded” material relating to the suspicions, TV reports have
said, including from witnesses very close to the prime minister. Among the 50
people who have already testified is Lauder, Channel 2 reported.
Previous coverage has said
one of the businessmen is based abroad, but has interests in Israel, and the
second is Israeli.
Lauder, whose family founded
the Estee Lauder cosmetics giant, has long been seen as an ally of Netanyahu,
who in the late 1990s put him in charge of negotiating with then Syrian
president Hafez Assad
In late September, Lauder was summoned by
police for questioning “related to a certain investigation conducted by them
and in which Mr. Lauder is not its subject matter,” said Helena Beilin,
Lauder’s Israeli attorney. “After a short meeting, he was told that his
presence is no longer required and that there shall be no further need for
additional meetings.”
Netanyahu
has acknowledged receiving money from French tycoon Arnaud Mimran, who was
sentenced to eight years in prison over a scam amounting to 283 million euros
involving the trade of carbon emissions permits and the taxes on them.
Netanyahu’s office said he had
received $40,000 in contributions from Mimran in 2001, when he was not in
office, as part of a fund for public activities, including appearances abroad
to promote Israel.
According to a Channel 10 report from Saturday
night, the central suspicions against Netanyahu were breach of trust and
unlawfully accepting gifts. As yet, the television report said, there were no
suspicions of bribery.
Netanyahu
on Friday rejected the accusations as “baseless,” saying “this will come to
nothing, because there is nothing.
A spokesman for Netanyahu
defended the Prime Minister by saying, “This is absolutely false. There was nothing and there will be
nothing.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, is being questioned by detectives on
suspicion of illegally accepting valuable gifts from prominent businessmen in a
scandal that is roiling Israeli politics.
Police officers came to the
prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem on Monday evening to question him about claims that
he took designer suits and overseas trips from at least two
businessmen.
Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged but
the criminal investigation into him is one of several probes swirling around
him and his family. His wife, Sara, was
questioned by police in a different case just weeks ago.
Police probes against
politicians are common in Israel and Mr Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ehud Olmert, is in prison for
corruption. Ariel Sharon was questioned by police over accusations he accepted
bribes but the case was dropped and he was never charged.
On Monday he had another defiant message for the opposition,
saying:
"There will be nothing
because there is nothing. You will continue to inflate hot air balloons and we
will continue to lead the state of Israel."
The 67-year-old politician,
who is on course to become Israel’s longest-serving leader, has avoided
prosecution at least twice so far in a long career.
What is most interesting
about this news is the possible
correlation with the U.S. decision to abstain from the vote in
the United Nations that aims to stop Israeli construction on
occupied Palestinian territory. The U.S. decision not to support Israel is a
public slap in the face and one that comes at a time where it also makes sense
to ask a logical question: Are the globalists/New World Order seeking to overthrow the controversial
Israeli Prime Minister in order to undermine the Jewish people and the state of Israel?
Is Netanyahu about to be overthrown?
Is this a globlist takedown linked to last week's UN vote?
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