Yair Netanyahu testifies to police major crimes unit in diplomatic passports affair
PM’s firebrand son isn’t himself a suspect in the investigation into illegal diplomatic passports allegedly issued by former foreign minister Cohen for Likud power players
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair testified to the police Lahav 433 major crimes unit on Thursday as part of a probe into allegedly illegal diplomatic passports that former foreign minister Eli Cohen issued to political associates, including Yair Netanyahu himself, Hebrew media reported.
As part of the investigation, police investigators are reportedly going over all diplomatic passports issued during Cohen’s tenure, between December 2022 and January 2024. Cohen, who is now the energy minister, is expected to be interrogated under caution as part of the probe.
Yair Netanyahu, 33, who has been residing in the US state of Florida for the last few years, is not himself a suspect in the affair, but was summoned last month to testify because he is currently in Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reported at the time. According to Haaretz, his testimony on Thursday lasted about an hour.
The investigation began in mid-2024 and led investigators to raid Foreign Ministry offices and confiscate materials. The probe followed a Haaretz report from December 2023 that Cohen had gone against the advice of his office’s legal counsel to issue diplomatic passports to prominent members of his Likud party.
Diplomatic passports are generally for high-ranking government officials to allow them to travel abroad with more ease.
According to the Haaretz report, a panel of ministry professionals adjudicating Cohen’s requests for diplomatic passports ruled against issuing them, but Foreign Ministry Director-General Ronen Levy overruled the committee, informing members that he was doing so on specific instructions from Cohen.
Among the Likud members who allegedly received a diplomatic passport were Binyamin Regional Council chairman Yisrael Gantz, Dimona Mayor Benny Biton, Sdot Negev Regional Council chairman Tamir Idan, and Merhavim Regional Council chairman Shay Hajaj.
Cohen has said that Gantz, Idan and Hajaj were eligible for diplomatic passports because they needed them for international relations work as part of their jobs. He also said Yair Netanyahu was given a diplomatic passport for security reasons.
Yair Netanyahu frequently draws criticism in Israel for posting inflammatory and conspiratorial content on social media, including blaming left-wing Israelis for massive wildfires in April and attributing the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza, to treason within the military.
The premier’s son resides near Miami, having reportedly moved to Florida in 2023 after his parents demanded he stop posting on social media or speaking directly with lawmakers and ministers, amid accusations that he was inflaming tensions in Israel and exacerbating a diplomatic rift with the United States.
Along with his social media presence, Yair Netanyahu has faced criticism for remaining in the US despite the Gaza war, as tens of thousands of Israelis returned home to join the over 300,000 reservists initially called up to fight.
Sam Sokol and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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