Associates of Benjamin Netanyahu keep repeating the talking points that as long as the Israeli prime minister has not been indicted and nor proven guilty, he enjoys the presumption of innocence. Indeed, only Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit can decide whether to translate the police findings that Netanyahu accepted bribes into an indictment. However, even if Mandelblit decides to trash the results of the police investigations, he will be unable to deodorize the stench they give off. That odor will not be cleared even if the court accepts Netanyahu's version that constant supplies of champagne, cigars and jewelry from wealthy businessmen estimated at 1 million shekels ($288,000) were simply gifts from close friends.

Police recommended the indictment of Netanyahu in two cases: Case 1000 for allegedly receiving bribes from businesspeople, and Case 2000 for allegedly plotting a deal with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes for positive coverage. Police also continue to investigate alleged wrongdoing involving the Bezeq communication company in Case 4000. But revelations about these files also expose another serious dimension: the Likud Party leader's plan to take control of Israel's media, culture and information. In essence, the really major gifts Netanyahu demanded from his wealthy benefactors, a few of which he managed to receive, were in fact paths to the hearts and minds of Israel's voters. The cigar smoke and alcohol fumes blur his plot to dismantle the central pillars of Israel's democracy — freedom of information and expression, an independent media and a combative press.

Let's assume, as Netanyahu claims, that the steady supply of presents bestowed by Israeli billionaire Arnon Milchan were the type of gifts people give their friends. We are still left with the police conclusions that the prime minister acted to promote Milchan's holdings in the merger of Israel's two leading television franchises, Reshet and Keshet. Gaining entry for a friend into a major media outlet improves the prospects of gaining entry for a few other friends into the Knesset.

Netanyahu and his lawyers rebuff police claims that the relationship with Milchan was one of bribery by saying that on the eve of the 2015 elections, the prime minister was trying to shut down another major news outlet, Channel 10, partly owned by Milchan. In fact, the effort to silence Channel 10 stemmed from Netanyahu's desire to get rid of its leading investigative reporter, Raviv Drucker, who exposed a series of affairs involving corruption, with Netanyahu in the leading role. Netanyahu was reportedly furious at former Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein for blocking the Channel 10 move; the prime minister lashed out at Weinstein, "I will lose the elections because of you."