Singer Aviv Geffen calls on ‘tyrant Bibi’ to resign

As the criminal investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alleged corruption continued to deepen, rock musician and “The Voice” judge Aviv Geffen at a Wednesday show lashed out at the “tyrant” Israeli leader and called on him to resign.

“What I’ve seen in Israel lately disgusts me,” he told some 2,000 fans in the audience at Tel Aviv’s Hangar 11. “This country went from being a wonderful place to a corrupt place.”

“We raised a tyrant and his name is Bibi Netanyahu who does whatever he wants,” Geffen said. “My heart goes out to both the right and the left, because we deserve a a leader and not some anxious paranoid person.

During parts of his performance, large photographs of Netanyahu smoking a cigar were projected against the backdrop of the stage.

“It’s impossible for Israel to be led by a prime minister under investigation. We deserve a leader and not a tyrant,” Geffen said. “Israel today is a corrupt Israel, and it starts from the top, so I call on Bibi Netanyahu: If you’re a man, you’ll resign.”

Netanyahu has been questioned by police twice in the past two weeks over two separate corruption cases, one of which involves allegations that a number of businessmen have given the prime minister and his wife, Sara, lucrative gifts during his years in office.

Police have seized receipts for gifts worth up to NIS 400,000 ($104,000) given to Netanyahu by Israeli Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, during a raid on his Ramat Gan offices, Channel 10 news reported earlier this week.

Last week, Channel 2 news reported that Milchan was one of up to four businessmen eyed as suspected benefactors of the Netanyahus. Milchan is alleged to have provided the prime minister with a steady supply of expensive cigars and his wife with champagne for nearly a decade.

Netanyahu is also under investigation for an alleged quid pro quo deal he arranged with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes in 2014.

Police reportedly have recordings of the two discussing the deal that would have seen the prime minister work to reduce the circulation of the pro-Netanyahu Israel Hayom daily newspaper. In exchange for pushing a bill to require the free daily to have a cover charge, Netanyahu would enjoy more favorable coverage in Yedioth.

The prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer has insisted Netanyahu has done nothing illegal.

The investigations have cast a pall over Netanyahu’s term, with some saying an indictment in either of the cases could force him from power.

On Wednesday night, Channel 10 quoted an unnamed Likud minister saying the new details in both investigations “are a game-changer.”

“You can smell it in the air that the era of Netanyahu is coming to an end. We need to prepare for the day after,” the unnamed minister was quoted as saying.