After two months of studying police recommendations, Israel’s state prosecutor appointed to oversee and review the corruption allegations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Liat Ben Ari, has reportedly recommended the premier be charged in at least one of three cases against him.
Ben Ari presented her final recommendations in Cases 1000 and 2000 to State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan.
In Case 1000, the prime minister is suspected of receiving benefits from billionaire benefactors including Israeli Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, in exchange for assistance on various issues.
Ben Ari maintained there was sufficient evidence to lodge an indictment, and her recommendations will now be reviewed by Nitzan, who will then present a final recommendation to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, before the latter decides whether to press charges against the prime minister.
This recommendation is considered a major step forward in the trial of Netanyahu, given that Ben Ari is the official most familiar with this case and it is not possible for the General Prosecutor to take a different approach to her recommendations.
Mandelblit has already announced, however, that a final decision on indictments in the two cases will only be made together with the findings of another ongoing investigation, Case 4000.
In Case 4000, also known as Bezeq-Walla, Netanyahu is suspected of pushing for regulations that benefited Shaul Elovitch, owner of Wala news site and Bezeq, country’s largest telecommunications firm. Walla is suspected of providing advertisements and positive coverage for the PM.
Sources estimate that the transfer of investigation material to the Public Prosecution will lead to indictments against Netanyahu during the first third of next year, unless there were any surprising changes.
They confirmed that police recommendations indicate that investigators are seriously convinced there is solid evidence against Netanyahu that he committed a bribery violation in Cases 1000 and 2000.
This is a serious offense that means stigmatizing him which could ban him from assuming high government responsibilities.
However, if there is any doubt about this assessment, Case 4000 contains more serious accusations and solid evidence, which means that Netanyahu’s close adviser will not be able, even if he wanted, to save the premier from an indictment.
With regard to Case 4000, Netanyahu’s former adviser, Nir Hefetz, had signed the state’s witness agreement which led to additional evidence against the PM in the three cases.
Sources close to Mandelblit revealed that he wants to treat the three cases as one, in order to delay the indictment, which would allow Netanyahu to gain more time and run for another election.
However, police and prosecution’s fast recommendations in the cases will prompt him to accelerate the verdict, especially that the press is directly charging him of conspiring to save Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has maintained he did nothing wrong claiming on numerous occasions that "there will be nothing, because there is nothing" and recently announced that “Case 4000 has collapsed.”
