Graffiti near AG’s home demands Netanyahu’s prosecution
Police open probe as protests call for PM to be tried for graft over receipt of expensive gifts from businessman
Police on Monday opened an investigation into graffiti sprayed close to the attorney general’s Petah Tikva home that hinted at demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, stand trial on suspicions that they illicitly accepted cigars and champagne worth hundreds of thousands of shekels.
Avichai Mandelblit, the country’s top law enforcement official, is in charge of the so-called “Case 1000” and, according to an Israel Radio report last month, is leaning toward a lesser charge of breach of trust, but not bribery, in the case.
After several weeks during which Netanyahu, Sara and son Yair have been questioned by police on multiple occasions, there has so far not been any conclusive evidence to show that the gifts were intended as bribes by the giver, Hollywood billionaire Arnon Michan, the report said.
The graffiti, noticed by neighbors and passersby, demanded “jail for the corrupt,” suggested that Avichai Mandelblit is a “collaborator,” and alluded to Case 1000 with the word “champagnes” next to a US dollar sign.
It came on top of weekly protests against Netanyahu held every Saturday evening outside Mandelblit’s house for more than two months, the Maariv newspaper said.
The demonstrations were kickstarted by Meni Naftali, a former caretaker at the prime minister’s official residence, who was awarded NIS 170,000 (about $43,735) in damages in February after a labor court accepted his claims of mistreatment by Sara Netanyahu during his employment.