Tag Archives: Benjamin Netanyahu

Government Accountability, International, Politics

Israel Police Recommend Charging Netanyahu With Corruption

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Tel Aviv, Israel— Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been recommended for indictment by Israeli police over allegations he engaged in bribery, fraud and “acting against public interest.”

Following the announcement, Netanyahu made a televised statement in which he denied the allegations, calling the case against him “baseless,” and vowing to continue to lead Israel.

The recommendation of charges follows a 14-month long investigation into allegations that Netanyahu traded political favors for costly gifts from wealthy businessmen, and that he sought to complete a deal with a popular newspaper to obtain positive coverage in exchange for using his position to damage a rival newspaper.

According to Haaretz:

The two cases are the so-called Case 1000 – in which Netanyahu is suspected of accepting lavish gifts from wealthy benefactors in return for advancing their interests – and Case 2000, which alleges that Netanyahu tried to strike a deal that would have provided him with positive coverage in Israel’s second largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, in exchange for hurting its free rival, Israel Hayom.

A report by the Times of Israel last week noted “senior police officials are in unanimous agreement on the matter, and that a ‘final’ discussion on the investigation had now been held.”

[RELATED: Boehner And Netanyahu Deny Report That Israel Spied On US-Iran Nuclear Negotiations]

Reuters noted Netanyahu has been questioned numerous times since early 2017. Police now believe they have enough evidence to bring criminal charges. Consequently, the indictment recommendation will now go to the Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who must decide whether to proceed with an indictment.

In fact, The Times reports that Alsheich also claimed that “powerful figures” operating on behalf of Netanyahu hired private investigators to collect information about police investigators working the Netanyahu cases, in an attempt to smear them once the recommendations became public.

Last Wednesday, in anticipation of the recommendation to indict, Netanyahu posted a video on Facebook proclaiming his innocence.

“There will be recommendations, there will also be signs saying ‘Bibi is guilty until proven otherwise,’ and there will be improper pressure, too. But I’m sure that at the end of the day the legal authorities will arrive at one conclusion, at the simple truth: there is nothing.”

https://www.facebook.com/Netanyahu/videos/10155360032517076/

Even if Netanyahu is eventually indicted, under current Israeli law, he could not be forced to resign.

Featured, Foreign Policy, Government Accountability, Politics

Report: NSA Spied on Israel’s Private Talks with U.S. Lawmakers about Iran Nuclear Deal

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The United States National Security Agency reportedly spied on Israeli lawmakers and ended up obtaining information from private conversations with U.S. lawmakers during negotiations about the Iran Nuclear Deal.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, President Obama monitored the activities of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because it served a “compelling national security purpose,” which ultimately gave the White House insight into Israel’s campaign to combat a nuclear deal with Iran.

The White House reportedly let the NSA decide “what to share and what to withhold,” and as a result it learned that  Netanyahu and his advisors “leaked details of the U.S.-Iran negotiations—learned through Israeli spying operations- to undermine the talks; coordinated talking points with Jewish-American groups against the deal; and asked undecided lawmakers what it would take to win their votes.”

As previously reported, in March, both Netanyahu and former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner denied allegations that Israel spied on nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, and then gave the stolen classified information to Congressional Republicans to sway their vote.

Following the revelation from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the NSA was spying on and collecting metadata from innocent Americans in June 2013, Obama promised that the U.S. “will not eavesdrop on the heads of state or government of close U.S. friends and allies, unless there is a compelling national security purpose” in Jan. 2014.

While diplomats such as French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel made Obama’s “protected list,” the WSJ’s report noted that Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not.

According to the report, a former Obama administration official claimed that the NSA was “so proficient at monitoring heads of state that it was common for the agency to deliver a visiting leader’s talking points to the president in advance.” 

After Boehner invited Netanyahu to address Congress in January 2015 without consulting the White House, the NSA reportedly realized that it was collecting data from Israeli lawmakers’ conversations with U.S. congress members. The report noted that while NSA rules require all names be changed to “U.S. person” in intelligence reports, senior U.S. officials can still request the names directly.

Foreign Policy, International, Politics, US

Boehner And Netanyahu Deny Report That Israel Spied On US-Iran Nuclear Negotiations

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Following a report that claimed Israel spied on nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, and then gave the stolen classified information to Congressional Republicans, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US House Speaker John Boehner have denied the allegations.

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that according to both current and former senior White House officials, Israel has been spying on private nuclear negotiations between Washington, Tehran and other major powers.

According to the anonymous officials, the spying operation, which included “information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe,” was part of Israel’s larger campaign to “penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal.”

The officials told the Wall Street Journal that the White House wasn’t as concerned about the fact that Israel spied on the negotiations, as it was about the fact that Israel then shared the stolen classified information with US lawmakers, in order to “drain support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program.”

On Tuesday, Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, told WND that the Prime Minister “unequivocally and totally” denies the allegations. “This is a story by uncited, anonymous sources and doesn’t have an ounce of truth to it,” Regev said.

Boehner, who was responsible for breaking protocol and inviting Netanyahu to speak to Congress on March 3 about nuclear negotiations with Iran without first notifying the White House, is expected to visit Israel at the end of March on a Republican congressional delegation. He addressed the report on Tuesday, and said that he was “baffled” by it.

“Frankly I was a bit shocked, because, there was no information revealed to me whatsoever.” Boehner said. “I’m not sure what the information was, but I’m baffled by it.”

Featured, Foreign Policy, International, Politics, US

Obama Takes Netanyahu ‘at his word’ In His Promise To Prevent Palestinian Statehood

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On Friday, President Obama addressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian State in his attempt to garner support for a fourth term as Prime Minister.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Obama said he took Netanyahu “at his word” when he said that a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine would not be reached under his watch.

“We’re going to make sure, regardless of disagreements we have on policy, that our military and intelligence cooperation to keep the Israeli people safe continues and that cooperation also helps the American people stay safe,” Obama said. “But we are going to continue to insist that, from our point of view, the status quo is unsustainable. And that while taking into complete account Israel’s security, we can’t just in perpetuity maintain the status quo, expand settlements. That’s not a recipe for stability in the region.”

Reuters reported that despite the “the urgency of renewed, structured and substantial efforts towards peace” expressed by the European Union, the United States will not speak at the annual United Nations debate on Israeli violations in Palestinian territories on Monday.

During an interview with Israeli news website NRG last week, Netanyahu promised that if re-elected as Israeli Prime Minister he would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian State in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

“I think anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state and to evacuate territory is giving radical Islam a staging ground against the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

With opinion polls prior to the election showing Netanyahu’s Likud falling behind Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Union, he urged citizens to vote, claiming that the right-wing government is in danger, due to the fact that “Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls,” and “Left-wing organizations are busing them out.”

Netanyahu won in a narrow victory on Wednesday with his Likud party winning 30 seats and surpassing Herzog’s Zionist Union, which won 24 seats.

Obama told the Huffington Post that when he called Netanyahu on Thursday to congratulate him on the Likud party’s victory, he said that given Netanyahu’s statement prior to the election, “it is going to be hard to find a path where people are seriously believing that negotiations are possible.”

“We indicated that that kind of rhetoric was contrary to what is the best of Israel’s traditions,” Obama said. “That although Israel was founded based on the historic Jewish homeland and the need to have a Jewish homeland, Israeli democracy has been premised on everybody in the country being treated equally and fairly.”

Election, International, Politics

Netanyahu to Serve Fourth Term As Israel’s Prime Minister Following Likud Win

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Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party prevailed in yesterday’s Israeli parliamentary elections, winning 30 seats. Zionist Union, the party of Netanyahu rival Isaac Herzog, obtained 24 seats, taking second place. Though Netanyahu must technically build a coalition in order to remain prime minister for what will be his fourth term, his success is all but guaranteed by the results of the election. The contest was considered to be a referendum on Netanyahu’s hard-line national security policies, which, as NBC News notes, have recently put him at odds with US President Barack Obama.

“The citizens of Israel expect us to quickly put together a leadership that will work for them regarding security, economy and society as we committed to do – and we will do so,” said Netanyahu in a statement, cited by Reuters, which outlined his next steps.

Yesterday, Netanyahu raised fears that he might lose, citing claims that left-wing groups were busing “Arab voters” to the polls “in droves.” In a last-ditch effort to win the election, Netanyahu appeased hard-right groups by taking an aggressive stance against the establishment of a Palestinian state and escalating tensions over Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program.

According to Fox News, President Obama responded to Netanyahu’s win by congratulating the Israeli people, but stopped short of congratulating Netanyahu himself.

The above-embedded video by Sky News notes that the Israeli Prime Minister is expected to build his governing coalition from nationalist and religious political parties including Jewish Home. Though Netanyahu is the incumbent, his party’s win is considered an upset as Zionist Union had a significant lead in the polls prior to election day.

International, Politics

If Re-Elected, Netanyahu Promises to Prevent Establishment of a Palestinian State

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As he entered the final day of campaigning before Tuesday’s election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to garner support by promising that if re-elected, there would be no establishment of a Palestinian State in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

The Associated Press reported that after six years as prime minister and as the “most dominant personality in Israeli politics,” Netanyahu’s standing has fallen in recent weeks.

According to Reuters, opinion polls predict that Isaac Herzog’s Zionist Union will take 24 to 26 seats in the 120-member parliament, while Netanyahu’s Likud will only take 20 to 22.

In an interview with Israeli news website NRG, Netanyahu was asked about his stance on creating a Palestinian State. In his response, which was translated to English by the Times of Israel, he claimed that the establishment of such a state would only lead to radical Islamic attacks on Israel.

“I think anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state and to evacuate territory is giving radical Islam a staging ground against the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

The New York Times noted that Netanyahu’s statement was contrary to his endorsement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2009, during a speech at Bar Ilan University, and that the change  “fulfilled many world leaders’ suspicions that he was never really serious about peace negotiations.”

According to Haaretz, Netanyahu has done more campaigning in the Israeli press this election season than in the last six years, and in his latest appearances, he appears to be “under pressure, nervous, tired and confused.”

The Associated Press reported that in contrast to Netanyahu, Herzog has vowed to “revive peace efforts with the Palestinians, repair ties with the U.S. and reduce the growing gaps between rich and poor.”

Reuters noted that both Herzog and his former running mate Tzipi Livni, have accused Netanyahu of “playing up fears over the Palestinians and Iran’s nuclear program to distract voters from the high cost of living and other social issues.”

International, Politics, US

Sec. Kerry: We Don’t Want Netanyahu’s Visit Turned into “Political Football”

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House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress about nuclear negotiations with Iran has created controversy, due to the fact that it was extended without the knowledge of the White House. Despite the lack of protocol, Netanyahu’s speech is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appeared on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, and he said that the White House does not want to see Netanyahu’s visit turned into “some great political football.”

While Kerry said that Netanyahu is welcome to speak in the United States, he admitted that the fact that the negotiations surrounding the visit went through the speaker of the House, instead of the White House was odd.

“We don’t want to see this turned into some great political football,” Kerry said. “Obviously, it was odd, if not unique, that we learned of it from the speaker of the House and that an administration was not included in this process.”

Kerry maintained that the Obama administration was “not seeking to politicize” Netanyahu’s visit, and claimed that the U.S. and Israel have the same goal in mind, which is trying to “prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”

Regarding comments from Iran about whether Netanyahu’s speech serves Iran’s interests, Kerry said he is not going to play the game of “walking into a debate about Iranian propaganda with respect to this visit,” and he emphasized the “unparalleled close security relationship” the U.S. has with Israel.

On Sunday, House Speaker John Boehner appeared on CBS’s Face The Nation. Although he was the one who invited Netanyahu to address Congress without notifying the White House, Boehner claimed that it is the White House’s response that has hurt relations between the U.S. and Israel.

“What I do wonder is why the White House feels threatened because the Congress wants to support Israel and wants to hear what a trusted ally has to say,” Boehner said. “It has been, frankly, remarkable to me to – the extent to which, over the last five or six weeks, the White House has attacked the prime minister, attacked me for wanting to hear from one of our closest allies.”

On Saturday, Politico reported that the number of Democrats who have pledged to boycott Netanyahu’s speech has risen to 30, with many of the members coming from the Congressional Black Caucus and claiming that Netanyahu’s visit without Obama’s consent is both an insult and a breach of protocol.

Foreign Policy, International, Politics, US

Fox News Bashes Boehner for Inviting Netanyahu to Address Congress, Not Notifying White House

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Following President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak about nuclear negotiations with Iran at an upcoming joint session of Congress, without first verifying the invitation with Obama.

Politico described this move as Boehner’s “most dramatic foreign policy confrontation” with Obama to date, due to the fact that Netanyahu is a “fierce opponent of the emerging U.S. nuclear agreement with the Islamic republic and has served as Obama’s foil, of sorts, as the negotiations have progressed.”

According to the New York Times, Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu “stunned” the White House, which called it a “breach of protocol,” and confirmed on Thursday that Obama would not meet with Netanyahu during his visit.

On Friday, in a discussion about Boehner’s subversion of Obama’s authority, Fox News correspondents Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith spoke out in criticism of both Boehner’s decision the extend an invitation, and Netanyahu’s decision to accept it.

Wallace said he completely agreed with former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk when he told the New York Times:

“Netanyahu is using the Republican Congress for a photo-op for his election campaign and the Republicans are using Bibi for their campaign against Obama. Unfortunately, the U.S. relationship will take the hit. It would be far wiser for us to stay out of their politics and for them to stay out of ours.”

“I think he’s 100 percent right,” Wallace said, explaining that he had been at the White House on Wednesday when Boehner announced that he had invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress, and that Netanyahu had accepted.

Wallace said one White House official was “flabbergasted,” and claimed the administration was given “no advanced warning,” and first found out about Netanyahu’s impending visit when Boehner announced it to the Press.

“To make you get a sense of really how, forgive me, wicked, this whole thing is, the Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Israeli Ambassador to the United States for two hours on Tuesday,” Wallace said. “Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador, according to the State Department, never mentioned the fact that Netanyahu was in negotiations and finally agreed to come to Washington, not to see the president, but to go to Capitol Hill, speak to a joint session of congress and criticize the president’s policy. I have to say I’m shocked.“

Smith pointed out that although both members of the Mossad and members of his own political party have warned Netanyahu that the upcoming trip to the U.S. is a bad idea, he “won’t back out.”

“The newspapers over there are going wild over this,” Smith said. “It just seems like they think we don’t pay any attention and we’re just a bunch of complete morons, the United States citizens, like we wouldn’t pick up on what’s happening here.”

Wallace noted that although Netanyahu is an “extremely savvy and successful politician,” Israel is just weeks away from a major election, and Israel’s relationship with the U.S. is a big political issue.

“Even when they’re fighting with each other the Israelis want to know that the U.S. has their back,” Wallace said. “For Netanyahu to do something that is going to be seen as such a deliberate and really egregious snub of President Obama, when Obama’s going to be in power for the next year and three-quarters would seem to me to be a very risky political strategy for Prime Minister Netanyahu.”