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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 9/12/17

Criminal indictments loom large for Israeli PM

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The report contributed to an image of Sara Netanyahu as "Israel's Marie Antoinette."

Mandelblit, however, failed to include most of these allegations in his draft indictment. The charges relate only to excessive spending on catering. Amir Oren, a senior columnist with Haaretz, accused the attorney general on Saturday of doing only "half the job."

The Netanyahus have blamed their former chief caretaker, Meni Naftali, for running up the huge bills.

Naftali won damages against Sara Netanyahu last year for abusing him and other members of the household staff. He has accused her of temper tantrums and drinking up to three bottles of champagne a day.

Netanyahu himself was not investigated in what is being called the "meals-ordering affair," after the couple claimed he took no part in managing the official residence.

Given the number of unresolved scandals engulfing the Netanyahus, the response from fellow politicians has so far remained muted, noted Warschawski.

Tzipi Livni, a former justice minister, limited her criticism to the prime minister's Facebook posts. "What hasn't been heard is an appropriate response from a decent prime minister," she said on Twitter.

That may in part be explained, said Warschawski, by the fact that the investigations are having "little impact" on many of Netanyahu's traditional core supporters. Instead, the prime minister has presented himself as a victim of persecution by the police, justice system and media.

By contrast, opposition demonstrators have accused the attorney general of procrastinating. Naftali, the Netanyahu's former caretaker, is among the leaders of a large weekly protest rally outside Mandelblit's home.

Yossi Alpher, who once served as an aide to former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, said Netanyahu would be more worried about the scandals' cumulative effect on the right's wider base of support.

"The impression is gaining ground that the Netanyahu family interpreted the premiership as a licence to live like kings," he told Al Jazeera.

"One cannot ignore the politics of this, either. The allegations will eventually encourage rivals of the Netanyahus on the right to rear their heads and challenge him."

Police sources have told the Israeli media that they are making strong headway in the investigations.

"Netanyahu is in big trouble," said Warschawski. "Many members of his inner circle are either under arrest or about to be. They are turning state witness. The trail of suspicion will keep leading to him."

A significant development is expected on September 17, when a gag order is due to be lifted on the testimony of Netanyahu's former chief of staff, Ari Harow, who turned state witness last month. His statements are reported to provide damaging information in the two main corruption investigations faced by the prime minister.

In the first -- dubbed Case 1,000 -- the Netanyahus have admitted to receiving lavish gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from a wide range of businessmen.

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Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. He is the 2011 winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are "Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East" (Pluto Press) and "Disappearing Palestine: (more...)
 

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