Deep-sea investigations

Since police did not reveal the identities of the two confidants of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who were detained for interrogation in the investigation into suspected corruption in the purchase of naval vessels from a German shipbuilder, the Hebrew-language newspapers are eager to indicate to observant readers that they do, as a matter of fact, know who the individuals in question are.

While the country’s major written publications follow in the footsteps of their TV counterparts and name David Shimron, Netanyahu’s cousin and personal lawyer, as one of the suspects, the second associate to the prime minister remains anonymous.

However, savvy media consumers reading Yedioth Ahronoth may notice that the paper’s front page article about the investigation, along with an accompanying blurred-out photo of the second suspect, is placed strategically over a report stating that the High Court is set to discuss whether attorney Yitzchak Molcho, who is considered to be one of Netanyahu’s closest allies, can legally serve as an adviser to the Israeli leader. The report on Molcho contains almost no information about the upcoming discussion itself, but instead stresses the attorney’s ties to the prime minister, and to Shimron.

“There are currently police investigations taking place which apparently touch upon a severe conflict of interests between the adviser and his partner [Shimron],” the paper quotes from the petition against Molcho, filed by attorney Shachar Ben-Meir. “Continuing to employ the adviser [Molcho] under these circumstances is a major flaw that causes ongoing damage to public service and basic ethics, and brings about more and more conflicts of interest each day.”

One can draw one’s own conclusions from the prior information, and from Yedioth’s decision to include such a muddled report on Netanyhau’s adviser alongside its in-depth coverage of the so-called submarine affair.

In Haaretz, military and defense analyst Amos Harel argues that the latest round of investigations involving the prime minister’s associates indicates that the “wall” that the Israeli leader has sought to convince the public separates the different factions in his administration is crumbling down.

“Throughout the police’s investigation into the navy submarine and ship affairs, the prime minister’s surroundings have made two major claims: The first — despite the fact that some of those involved in the case are considered to be close to Netanyahu, chief among them his attorney David Shimron, Netanyahu himself did not know anything and is therefore not suspect of anything,” Harel writes. “The second — that Shimron was in this business alone, because even though his office is tied to the prime minister from other directions, only he himself touched the submarines as the attorney for the intermediary of the deal, (state witness) Miki Ganor.”

But, the recent developments, Harel continues, prove that the investigators no longer buy this line of defense. “The possibility that this is the way things took place for years — Shimron dealt with the submarines and ships on behalf of Ganor, the [second suspect and confidant of Netanyahu] took part in a number of issues that at the very least breached on these deals and the prime minister stayed oblivious to all this — cast serious doubts, in the best case.” Harel’s analysis indicates that Haaretz too knows the identity of the second suspect involved in the submarine affair.

Israel Hayom, ever protective of Netanyahu, all but ignores the investigations, devoting only a small headline to the affair. Instead, the daily leads with Israel’s holding of the bodies of five Palestinians killed in last week’s strike on a Gaza attack tunnel. Yaakov Amidror, a former major general and National Security Advisor, asserts in an op-ed that Israel should not return the bodies without in return receiving the remains of two IDF soldiers currently being held by Hamas. However, Amidror admits that such a trade is unlikely, and contends that Hamas would most probably rather torment the bereaved families of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul than deal with Israel. “[Israel’s holding of the Palestinian bodies] is an important tactical achievement, but it is unclear if it can be realized with an adversary who does not even take into account its own bereaved families,” Amidror writes.

Back in Yedioth, the daily reports that 48-year-old Alex Fottphob, a professional sap surfer from Ashdod, is on his way to break an Israeli record as he embarks on a no-break surf from the country’s most northern beach — Rosh Hanikra — to its most southern one — Zikim. Fottphob is expected to surf for 200 kilometers straight and reach his destination by the afternoon. “I am excited and nervous,” the surfer told Yedioth yesterday. “My four children are cheering me on, and my wife just want me to get past this episode already.”