Will snowballing scandals bury Netanyahu?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is embroiled in not one but three major scandals that could end his career.
The investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s activities keep growing and are now becoming a global affair.
First there is “Nonigate,” an investigation into a series of conversations that Netanyahu had with his arch-nemesis Arnon (Noni) Mozes, publisher of the Yedioth Aharonoth group. These talks resulted in long, remarkable transcripts, reeking of a bribery scandal in the works. In recent days, selections from these transcripts have been aired nightly by Channel 2. As a result of these revelations, a long list of newspaper editors, senior journalists and other major media figures have been called for interrogation and affidavits. Most prominent among them are figures associated with the Israel Today (Yisrael Hayom) and Yedioth Aharonoth newspapers.
The second investigation focuses on the gifts that the Netanyahu family has accumulated over the years from a group of billionaires. These gifts, valued at hundreds of thousands of shekels or more, were given to the Netanyahu family on demand, systematically and over an extended period of time.
This investigation branched off into unexpected territory. The first billionaire to be interrogated was Ronald Lauder. One of his principal moneymen was recently interrogated in New York. He was later joined by many others, Israeli-American billionaire Arnon Milchan and Australian James Packer the most prominent among them.
