“I believe nothing will come of this,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at a Dec. 31 news conference during a visit to Brazil. “This” is a reference to three affairs in which police suspect Netanyahu of corruption: Case 1000 involves gifts he allegedly received from wealthy businesspeople; in Case 2000 he allegedly conspired with a news publisher for favorable coverage; and in Case 4000 he is suspected of granting regulatory favors to a media tycoon, also in return for favorable coverage. Netanyahu added, "The hearing doesn’t end until my side is heard. And therefore, it is not logical to open a hearing process before elections if you can’t finish it before elections.”
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit reportedly promised members of a senior judiciary forum recently that he would make an all-out effort to complete studying the police findings and recommendations in all three cases as quickly as possible in order to decide whether to indict Netanyahu, pending a hearing. According to a Jan. 1 report on Channel 2, Mandelblit agreed that issuing a decision prior to the elections was a “public duty” so that voters can go to the polls fully informed.
