Gabbay: Netanyahu should resign if he becomes a suspect in submarines affair

Labor Party chair Avi Gabbay says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must take a leave of absence if he is made a suspect in the continuing police investigation into suspected graft in the purchase of naval vessels from a German shipbuilder.

The investigation is focused on suspicions that state officials were paid bribes to influence a decision to purchase four patrol boats and three Dolphin-class submarines, at a total cost of 2 billion euros (NIS 8.4 billion), from ThyssenKrupp, despite opposition to the deal from the Defense Ministry.

Netanyahu is not currently a suspect, though some of his top advisers are. It was reported this week that he may be designated a suspect as police consider questioning him under caution. Among the current suspects in the case are Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu’s chief negotiator and personal envoy for over a decade; attorney David Shimron, Netanyahu’s cousin and personal attorney; David Sharan, the premier’s former bureau chief; and Avriel Bar-Yosef, chosen by Netanyahu to be his national security adviser.

Speaking at the weekly Zionist Union faction meeting in the Knesset, Gabbay says the investigation is “undoubtedly one of the most serious corruption cases we have ever had as it involves people closest to the prime minister acting with complete conflict of interest between the good of the state and their own clients.”

“A prime minister who is investigated as a criminal suspect in a bribery case involving national security matters must announce a leave of absence until the end of the investigation and cannot continue to make decisions regarding the security of the State of Israel,” Gabbay adds.

— Raoul Wootliff