TV report: Police may grill PM over suspected bribe-taking bid

Israel’s Channel 2 television said Friday evening that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may soon be summoned for police questioning under caution over suspicions that he tried to solicit bribes.

According to the report, the police are expected to decide before the start of the Jewish high holidays early next month whether to launch a criminal investigation into the suspicions. Channel 2 said police suspect Netanyahu of a crime that relates to instances of one person asking another for a bribe, which is considered a felony even if the second party does not agree.

Netanyahu is suspected of personally having tried to solicit a bribe, not through any of his relatives or another third party, the report said vaguely, adding that the alleged incident in question took place recently.

According to Channel 2, police turned to suspicions that Netanyahu himself sought bribes once their investigation into his former chief of staff Ari Harow came to a dead end.

In response, the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday accused the media of “constantly pressuring” the authorities to charge Netanyahu in an effort to bring him down.

“Ever since Netanyahu’s victory in the last [2015 Knesset] elections, and before that, elements hostile to the prime minister have been doing their utmost to topple the prime minister by issuing false allegations,” the PMO said.

“These elements in the media and their agents are constantly pressuring the police, the state prosecution and the attorney general to launch a criminal investigation into the prime minister. Their false claims are utter lies and turned out to be fabrications. We reiterate: there wasn’t anything, there won’t be anything – because there isn’t anything.”

Channel 2 had reported Thursday that Harow said he would fully cooperate with the police as he wished to be cleared in the case centered around him.

Harow’s only suspicious disclosure was that Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, received some benefits from the American Friends of Likud, which Harow headed until 2009. But, according to Channel 2, Harrow said that the gifts — which included flight tickets, a suit, a box of cigars and a pendant chain for Mrs. Netanyahu — were justified as the prime minister was the party’s best way of generating contributions.

Police have questioned other suspects in an attempt to uncover information regarding alleged corruption involving the Netanyahu family, but have so far yielded no results.