Netanyahu investigation: PM's eldest son arrives for police questioning

Yair Netanyahu is expected to give testimony regarding an ongoing investigation into allegations that his father and family illegally received lavish gifts from wealthy businessmen.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: JANUARY 17, 2017 18:34
A Netanyahu Family photo. (photo credit: KOBI GIDEON/GPO)
A Netanyahu Family photo.
(photo credit: KOBI GIDEON/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's eldest son, Yair, arrived for questioning on Tuesday evening at anti-corruption police's Lahav 433 unit headquarters.
He was expected to give testimony regarding an ongoing investigation into allegations that the premier and his family illegally received lavish gifts from wealthy businessmen.
Last week, police questioned the prime minister's wife, Sara, as part of the investigation. Her questioning by investigators from the National Fraud Unit was said to involve details on gifts she had received, including large quantities of pink champagne. She said the champagne was a legitimate gift between friends, Channel 2 reported on Thursday.
Netanyahu himself has been questioned multiple times by police regarding this investigation, known as Case 1000, and another investigation into allegations that he conspired with the publisher of popular Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot to weaken rival paper Israel HaYom in exchange for favorable coverage of the prime minister.
Police are expected to question Netanyahu this week for a third time regarding that case.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and has charged that media leaks and widespread coverage related to the probes are part of a smear campaign aimed at toppling his government.
“An entire investigation is being conducted on television,” Netanyahu said at a Likud faction meeting Monday. “Every evening they are disseminating selectively and carefully filtered transcripts and deliberate lies on the two issues in question,” referring to the steady stream of broadcasts by Channel 2 on recorded conversations between the prime minister and Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes.
Netanyahu alleged that the purpose of the media focus on the recordings, and the other investigation into alleged illicit gifts he may have received while in office, was to create a groundswell of pressure on the police and the attorney-general to file an indictment against him.
“So I want to say to you, friends: in a democracy, governments are changed at the polling booth, not through orchestrated pressure on the attorney-general and the law enforcement services,” the prime minister declared.
Eliyahu Kamisher and Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.