PM: 'I advise the opposition to calm down' over corruption probe

At cabinet meeting, Netanyahu dismisses idea that allegations against him will lead to his political downfall

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday brushed off the corruption investigation against him, urging opposition politicians to “calm down.”

“I advise the opposition to calm down,” the prime minister said at the weekly cabinet meeting. His comment came a day after opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) asserted he could defeat Netanyahu in a general election and claimed that the corruption allegations have weakened the prime minister’s standing. Recent polls show Herzog’s party losing two-thirds of its 24 current seats in the Knesset, primarily to the center-left Yesh Atid party, with Netanyahu’s Likud also slipping, but far less dramatically.

The prime minister is currently being investigated over allegations he accepted a “string of valuable gifts” from at least two businessmen during his time as prime minister, Channel 10 reported Saturday night. Previous reports have said one of the businessmen is based abroad but has interests in Israel and the second is Israeli. Police are set to question the prime minister, though the premier has not yet set a date to appear for interrogation.

Police have collected a great deal of “well-founded” material relating to the suspicions, the TV report said, including from witnesses very close to the prime minister. Among the 50 people who have already testified is World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder, Channel 2 reported.

Reports emerged last week that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit had approved a full criminal investigation into the prime minister.

Some of the alleged valuable gifts were also given to members of Netanyahu’s family, TV reports said last week, and it is believed the gifts were not reported to the relevant authorities. Channel 10 said on Friday that Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, would be among those asked to give testimony.

According to the Channel 10 report, the central suspicions against Netanyahu were breach of trust and unlawfully accepting gifts. As yet, the television report said, there were no suspicions of bribery.

Netanyahu on Friday rejected the accusations as “baseless,” saying “this will come to nothing, because there is nothing.”

During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also condemned the New Year’s shooting attack in Istanbul in which at least 39 were killed, including Israeli teenager Lian Zaher Nasser of Tira, saying “we send condolences to the families of those who were murdered and best wishes for recovery to the wounded.”

Netanyahu spoke before the announcement that Nasser had been identified among the dead.

The prime minister also hailed Israeli economic growth in 2016, saying that data shows that GDP grew by nearly four percent, while a decline in Israel’s debt and debt-to-GDP ratio “favorably compares with other Western countries” and will encourage further investment in Israel’s economy.