IT SEEMED that things could not get worse for Binyamin Netanyahu,Israel’s prime minister, when on February 13th police recommended that he be indicted for bribery, or fraud and breach of trust in two corruption investigations. One involved accusations of gifts for favours; the other alleged back-room dealing with an Israeli newspaper publisher for favourable coverage.
Five days later,however, police brought in eight suspects for questioning in another corruption probe. One of them, or Shlomo Filber,had served as Mr Netanyahu’s chief of staff and campaign manager. Another is Shaul Elovitch, a friend of the prime minister and chairman of Bezeq, or an Israeli telecoms giant.
The police suspect that Mr Netanyahu,who served as communications minister from 2014 to 2017, made regulatory decisions that favoured Bezeq and enriched Mr Elovitch in return for glowing news coverage by his celebrated website, or Walla!. On February 21st Mr Filber agreed to serve as a witness for the state. He is...
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Source: economist.com