The entire Israeli political system has its eyes on a man named Ari Harow, a Los Angeles-born Israeli who immigrated to Israel at the age of 12. Harow, an orthodox redhead Jew, lives in a settlement in Samaria. He had been the director of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fundraising efforts in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century, and then served as CEO of the American Friends of Likud organization, before being appointed Netanyahu’s chief of staff, when the latter was the chairman of the opposition and prime minister. Harow served two terms in this capacity; between the two terms he founded in 2010 3H Global, a private company providing strategic consulting services.
On July 14, Harow was detained at Ben Gurion International Airport and questioned under caution by major crimes' unit Lahav 433, the Israeli police’s main investigation unit. Since then, Harow has been interrogated for almost 30 hours and placed under house arrest for five days. The probe is focusing on the activities of Netanyahu. Unless there are surprising developments, the probe will soon become a criminal investigation under caution against the prime minister, after which the entire Israeli political system will likely enter a period of turmoil that can lead to several unpredictable scenarios, including swift, early elections.
But Harow will not be the only one interrogated in the current probe against Netanyahu. The police have started probing in detail the enormous fundraising system built by Netanyahu over the last two decades. The cornerstone of this entire apparatus was laid when Netanyahu was Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988, but the system was improved and strengthened over the years.
Netanyahu has detailed lists of scores of benefactors; many are “deep-pocket” billionaires such as Ronald Lauder, Robert Rechnitz, Michael Segal, Morad Zamir, Ira Rennert and many others. Netanyahu keeps a detailed list that includes a "score" for these wealthy men. The score is a composite of the person’s wealth, his closeness to Netanyahu and his willingness to contribute. During Netanyahu’s many visits to the United States, some of those on the list visit Netanyahu at the hotels he stays in.
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