Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displays piece of an Iranian drone at Munich Security Conference, Feb. 18, 2018. (Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO)
In a world that has become increasing defined by political “madness” in every eschalon of government and in practically every governing body in the world, it should come as no surprise that the same holds true for Israel. Throughout the unprecedented year of 2020, it appears that an indictment against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dominated the headlines.
This spurious case is predicated on charges that Netanyahu and his family members were involved in an allegedly illicit quid pro quo stemming from 2017. Editorial requests were made of media entrepreneur Shaul Elovitch, who owns the Walla news service. In return for Elovitch acceding to the modifications requested in coverage, the prosecutors claim that Netanyahu “allegedly granted regulatory favors that would help Elovitch’s business interests,” according to a Times of Israel report. Thusly, Netanyahu was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in this case that is known as “4000.” Elovitch and his wife are also charged with bribery.
In published reports on Sunday, it appears that the Jerusalem District Court found the argument from prosecutors scant in detail and without enough facts to prove that their case has any legal merit. Last month, the court asked prosecutors to file an amended complaint that clearly delineated media coverage requests made by Netanyahu and those made by his family members.
Lawyers representing Netanyahu wanted to know why the prime minister would be compelled to answer charges of requests made by his family. The report indicated that a detailed list of 315 requests were made for coverage modifications at Walla were made by Netanyahu and his family, yet nothing concrete in terms of actual proof has been found.
Meanwhile, the prosecution in this case is having a hard time proving that any of these requests are of any merit. For those who have eyes to see and ears that hear, it has become abundantly clear that the state prosecutors have their own nefarious agenda. Pundits and political analysts have called Case 4000 nothing more than a ruthless “witch hunt” that is predicated on adding a golden feather to their prosecutorial cap. After all, their palpable animus towards Netanyahu serves as a driving force to extricate the prime minister from office, with the help of Israel’ far left parties.
What makes this case so bizarre is that it is one of three criminal cases brought by the state prosecution against Netanyahu, and this one seems to be the strongest. Hmmm…., let’s figure this one out. If this case, which quite frankly, is teetering on the verge of not having a legal leg to stand on is the most robust case against the prime minister, one could only imagine how pathetically impotent the other bogus charges are in the other cases that they have hit Netanyahu with.
In Case 2000, Netanyahu is once again accused of making requests of the Yediot Achranot newspaper to modify their coverage of him. In return, prosecutors claim that Netanyahu pushed legislation that would help to bring down Yediot’s chief rival, the Israel HaYom newspaper. Providing details on this case has also become a troublesome task for prosecutors and they are much less proof than they do on Case 4000.
In Case 1000, in which even less proof has been promulgated, Netanyahu is charged with fraud and breach of trust as he is charged with accepting gifts of cigars and champagne from Israeli movie mogul, Arnon Milchan and James Packer, an Australian magnate. This case has also proven to be on very shaky ground as prosecutors sweat bullets to provide actual proof.
On Sunday, Netanyahu himself pretty much corroborated the agenda of the prosecution by saying. “balloon of Case 4000 has burst.”
In a statement, Netanyahu’s representatives said, “ the prosecution barely managed to find 10 media requests from the prime minister to Walla in four years, an average of one request every half a year, during a time in which 10,000 articles were written about the prime minister in Walla.”
“It’s absurd the prosecution defines these routine actions by spokespeople as criminal acts,” Netanyahu said. “And the height of absurdity — nowhere on earth has an indictment been filed against a public figure because of media coverage. This is what happens when they try in every way to stick a case against a strong right-wing government leader.”
Netanyahu is correct. If this case had been filed in any court in the United States, it would have been immediately thrown out. Nothing of substance has been offered to the Jerusalem District Court and the justices that preside over it.
The time is long overdue for the state prosecution to stop acting out their political agenda is a court of law.
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