Ari Harow’s parents say his woes part of plot to topple PM

The parents of Ari Harow, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ex chief of staff turned state’s witness, defended their son in an interview, saying his legal woes were a consequence of others’ attempts to bring down Netanyahu.

Police on Friday revealed that US-born Harow, 44, had signed an agreement to turn state’s witness as part of ongoing investigations into alleged corruption by Israel’s premier.

“What really bothers me is that no one is paying attention to the obvious: that this whole exercise against Ari and those around Bibi is to get Bibi,” Harow’s mother Glenda told Channel 2, using the prime minister’s nickname, in a phone interview.

“What I can tell you is that Ari is one of the most honorable, trustworthy people I know. And I think that he was close to Bibi because Bibi knew he could trust him. That’s what I know,” she said.

On Friday police announced that Harow is expected to receive six months of community service and a NIS 700,000 fine ($193,000) on breach of trust charges in exchange for his testimony in the investigations.

Later Friday, Netanyahu dismissed the news of Harow’s deal as “background noise.” Harow’s mother’s allegations echoed those the prime minister has frequently made that the corruption allegations against him are a plot by the left and the media to unseat him.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu and his wife Sara are suspected of receiving illicit gifts from billionaire benefactors, most notably hundreds of thousands of shekels’ worth of cigars and champagne from the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

Case 2000 involves a suspected illicit quid pro quo deal between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes that would have seen the prime minister hobble a rival daily, the Sheldon Adelson-backed Israel Hayom, through Knesset legislation in return for more favorable coverage from Yedioth.

Harow is expected to provide information in both probes, having served as chief of staff during the time of the alleged deal with Mozes and while Netanyahu is said to have received gifts worth thousands of shekels.

Harow was born in Los Angeles and moved with his family to Israel in 1985, when he was 12, living in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron.

“We immigrated from Los Angeles because we thought this would be a good place to raise our boys,” Harow’s father, Ed, told Channel 2.

After completing his army service he moved back to the US to study in New York, before returning again to finish a Master’s degree in Political Science at Tel Aviv University.

It was at this time that he first stated working with Netanyahu, volunteering for him in 2002 as an adviser on Diaspora affairs, and more crucially on fundraising.

He then moved back to the US for several years where he headed the American Friends of Likud.

It was during this period that he was first linked to allegations of financial irregularities surrounding Netanyahu and the so-called Bibi Tours scandal in which, as finance minister a decade ago, Netanyahu had private donors and organizations fund most of his trips as well as cover travel expenses for his wife and children, and failed to clear the information with the Knesset.

According to the Haaretz daily, the American Friends of Likud were also paying the salary of Netanyahu adviser Odelia Karmon.

The Bibi Tours issue was first reported by Channel 10 in 2011 and, while a state comptroller’s report found ethical problems, no charges were ever filed.

By 2008, Harow was back in Israel, started working for Netanyahu as the head of his office, and was with him when he returned to power in 2009.

Harow left politics in 2010 to start a political consultancy firm, which works with politicians and political campaigns. He served a second stint as the PM’s bureau chief in 2014, and directed the election campaign that kept Netanyahu in office in the 2015 national elections.

But police began investigating Harow on suspicion that when he came back to work for Netanyahu in 2014, he only fictitiously sold his consulting firm, rather than genuinely doing so, as was required.

The recordings of Netanyahu’s conversations with Mozes were made on Harow’s phone and discovered by police during their investigation into his sale of his consultancy.

Harow’s father told the TV station the family was “pretty depressed” by his son’s involvement in the whole affair.

“They tried to give back to the country, but it didn’t end up so well,” he said. “He got into trouble.”