Police weigh probe into Netanyahu as criminal suspect in submarine affair

Police are considering investigating Netanyahu as criminal suspect in the so-called submarine affair in which Netanyahu’s personal lawyer David Shimron allegedly swayed multi-billion shekel deals in favor of the German shipbuilder he represented in Israel, Channel 10 news reports.

Doing so would turn the probe, known as Case 2000, into a full-blown criminal investigation.

Labor Union chair Avi Nissenkorn was questioned today over a meeting he had with Shimron in an attempt to secure an Israeli shipyard to store the submarines when they arrived in Israel, the report says.

Channel 2 television reported Tuesday that former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon was questioned by police as part of their initial investigation.

Channel 10 also reports that Case 1000 — looking into claims that Netanyahu and his family received luxury gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels from businessmen — has nearly been completed and police investigators are due to present their recommendations on whether or not to indict Netanyahu in the coming weeks.

Case 2000, however — pertaining to recordings of conversations between Netanyahu and Israeli newspaper publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes, in which the pair allegedly negotiated an illicit quid pro quo deal that would have seen the prime minister pass legislation to hamper a rival daily in return for more favorable coverage from Mozes’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper — is far from completion with several US businessmen and publishers still to give testimony, Channel 10 says.

— Raoul Wootliff