Former Netanyahu chief of staff grilled again by police
Ari Harow, a longtime aide and campaign manager for PM and Likud, suspected of conflict of interest
Ari Harow, the California-born former chief-of-staff and aide of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was questioned by the police’s Lahav 433 high-profile crimes unit on Thursday, for the third time in less than a year.
According to Hebrew media reports, the interrogation Thursday was focused on a suspected conflict of interest in connection with a business Harow owned when he started working in the Prime Minister’s Office. He served as Netanyahu’s bureau chief twice, since first taking up the post in 2009.
In July, Harow was detained and questioned, reportedly in connection with a corruption investigation involving the prime minister. After a week under house arrest, the police released Harow stating that they would not seek to extend his detainment at the time. The investigation, which was subject to a partial gag order, reportedly involved suspicions of massive money laundering.
Additionally, in December 2015, Harrow was questioned by police under caution for a “range” of offenses he was suspected to have committed while working in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Sources involved in Thursday’s investigation emphasized that the probe was unconnected to the suspected violations involving Netanyahu.
Harow first worked for Netanyahu as foreign affairs adviser during his spell as leader of the opposition. He then spearheaded the 2009 election campaign that catapulted Netanyahu back to office. Following the election, he served as the prime minister’s bureau chief until 2010, managing the prime minister’s schedule and advising him on a range of issues.
Harow took a break from politics in 2010, when he founded 3H Global, an Israel-based consulting firm. He later returned as chief-of-staff of the PMO in 2014, serving there for a year before leaving to run the 2015 election campaign for Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Harow made aliyah to Israel with his family when he was 12-years-old, later serving in the Israel Defense Forces’ Golani Brigade. He attended Bar Ilan University and Brooklyn College in New York, where he met his wife, Naomi. They have four children.