From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 19, 2025
Netanyahu appoints former aide suspected of corruption as acting Likud director
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appoints a former aide who is under investigation for corruption as acting Likud party executive director general.
David Sharan will replace incumbent Zuri Siso, who was tapped for the position of Israeli consul in Miami, Likud announces.
Sharan, a longtime Likud operative, previously served as Netanyahu’s chief of staff and bureau chief as well as the CEO of the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company. He was indicted on charges of bribery, money laundering, and breach of trust in 2021 in connection with a corruption scandal known as the submarine affair, involving the purchase of navy vessels worth hundreds of millions of dollars from a German shipbuilder.
Sharan later went on to testify in the so-called Case 4000, in which Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Prosecutors in 2022 asked the Jerusalem District Court to declare Sharan a hostile witness after he retracted previous testimony and harshly criticized prosecutors and police interrogators in his remarks.
“We wish David Sharan success in fulfilling his new role,” Likud says in a statement.
Likud is expected to vote this week on holding leadership primaries on November 25. Members of the Likud Central Committee will meet on October 23 to approve the timetable and appoint an internal elections oversight committee. According to media reports, Netanyahu is expected to run uncontested.
The Times of Israel Community.