Netanyahu questioned for four hours in telecom corruption case
Benjamin Netanyahu was interrogated on Monday for four hours over allegations he offered to ease regulation of a telecoms company in return for favourable coverage in its owners' media outlets.
The Israeli prime minister was questioned by members of Lahav 433, an investigations unit known as the "Israeli FBI", at his residence on Balfour Street in West Jerusalem.
The questioning was supposed to take place last week, but was postponed after Netanyahu fell ill, according to Israeli news site Walla.
He was previously questioned by police on 2 March in relation to "Case 4000", one of five cases currently being investigated in relation to the prime minister and his associates.
Police allege that the owners of Bezeq Israel Telecom provided favourable coverage of Netanyahu and his wife Sara on a news website they controlled in return for favours from communications regulators.
Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing in the case.
Lahav 433 also interrogated Netanyahu's wife, Sara, and his son Yair at its headquarters in Lod, southeast of Tel Aviv.
This is the first time Israeli police questioned Netanyahu's son, who made media headlines in Israel after he was caught on tape pressuring an Israeli gas tycoon's son for money for a prostitute.
The controlling shareholder of Bezeq Telecom, Shaul Elovitch, his wife Iris, retired Bezeq CEO Stella Handler, and former head of the prime minister's office, David Sharan, arrived at Lahav's headquarter in Lod city to testify in Case 4000.
According to Walla, cameras and microphones broadcast the course of the interrogations to the command room in Lod, where the investigators reportedly verified the statements by all those involved.
In two neighbouring rooms were state witnesses Shlomo Filber, a confidant of Netanyahu and former director general of the Communications Ministry, and Nir Hafetz, a media advisor to Israel's prime minister who is known to be his wife's close associate.
Netanyahu, Israel's dominant political figure for a generation - in power since 2009 and for 12 years in total since 1996 - calls the allegations against him a "witch hunt". He has said he will seek a fifth term in a national election due in late 2019.
Israeli police allege that his wife, son and Hafetz disrupted the state's interrogation by concealing correspondence and recorded conversations between them on Case 4000 that concerns Elovitch and his wife. It will carry further investigations over the concealment.
On Thursday, at the Likud party toast ceremony ahead of Passover holiday, Netanyahu said that "many people hear what is happening in the media and feel that there is an addicted game here, really a witch hunt".
He added that "they know that it is impossible to beat us in the ballot box, in democratic ways".
Netanyahu is under no strict legal obligation to quit following police recommendations. Indeed, he has given every indication that he intends to remain in office while pursuing a legal battle.
The fact that the leader of Israel's ruling right-wing coalition is being scrutinised by prosecutors could affect the political calculations of his supporters, rivals and opponents within his own coalition, and across the political spectrum.
Middle East Eye propose une couverture et une analyse indépendantes et incomparables du Moyen-Orient, de l’Afrique du Nord et d’autres régions du monde. Pour en savoir plus sur la reprise de ce contenu et les frais qui s’appliquent, veuillez remplir ce formulaire [en anglais]. Pour en savoir plus sur MEE, cliquez ici [en anglais].
