“My dad arranged $20 billion for your dad, and you’re whining with me about 400 shekels [$115]?” This statement — uttered several times by Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an explosive recording — has shaken Israel. The release of the recording Jan. 8 was the last thing Netanyahu needed at this point in time. The police are completing two of the criminal investigations of the prime minister and his cronies, and the public debate about Netanyahu’s ability to continue to conduct affairs of state is heating up. Such is the backdrop to the release of the audio recording by Channel 2, Israel’s highest-rated news outlet.
At the center of the story stands the prime minister’s controversial 26-year-old son. Two of his friends are also involved, one of them being Nir Maimon, son of Kobi Maimon, a mysterious Israeli tycoon who keeps his distance from the media and owns part of one of the large offshore Tamar natural gas fields.
