Netanyahu Uses Wars To Avoid Corruption Trial

According to an investigation published last week by Haaretz, the Israeli Prime Minister pushed the IDF to raise the threat level on his life in an attempt to prevent his corruption trial from moving forward. According to the investigation, Netanyahu pressured the Chief of Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, to sign off on restrictions on Netanyahu’s movement that would have prevented him from taking the stand. 

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 for allegedly trading $260,000 worth of luxury gifts, including cigars, champagne and jewelry, from billionaires in exchange for political favors. He also is accused of granting political favors to two media outlets in exchange for favorable coverage of his administration. In the most serious case, prosecutors claim he offered more than $200 million in incentives to a telecommunications company in exchange for positive news stories on a news site it owns. But ever since the indictment, Netanyahu and his allies have characterized it as a witch hunt. 

Trump seems to agree. Last week, he posted on Truth social that the case was an “unheard of… horror show,” and threatened to withdraw U.S. military aid to Israel unless the trial was cancelled. The courts recently granted a temporary postponement of Netanyahu’s testimony in the case, which was planned to take place over the next two weeks, citing confidential information about the Prime Minister’s obligations surrounding the war in Gaza.

This story was adapted from the Current Affairs News Briefing. Subscribe today!