Netanyahu Questioned Over Three Corruption Cases

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases being investigated. Photograph: Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases being investigated. Photograph: Reuters
TT
20

Netanyahu Questioned Over Three Corruption Cases

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases being investigated. Photograph: Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a suspect in two cases being investigated. Photograph: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interrogated by the Israeli police in corruption-related matters -- investigations majorly focused on cases known as 1000 and 2000.

The police waited for the return of Netanyahu from London in order to investigate him.

In case 1000, police suspect that Netanyahu and his wife received bribes including a cigar and champagne worth ten thousand dollars from businessmen to facilitate their commercial activities.

As for case 2000, it is related to a barter between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth on ceasing the work of a competitor newspaper, and Yedioth Ahronoth would in return provide a better coverage.

The case of submarines holds the name of “case 3000” – a corruption deal to purchase navy vehicles from Germany and it is expected to lead to a list of hight-rank suspects.

The police will refer investigation results to the Israeli government Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit who recommended investigating Netanyahu for the fifth time. They announced in a document presented to the court last August that Netanyahu is a suspect of receiving bribes and betraying trust.

However, Netanyahu's office denied this and accused opposing parties of attempts to put him out for political motives.

In a step that seems a retaliation, Israeli legislators close to Netanyahu caused chaos as they announced their will to demand a salary raise for Netanyahu and a salary drop for head of Israeli police Roni Alsheikh who insists on interrogating Netanyahu.

Analysts and politicians interpreted the step as another initiative to raise a debate with Alsheikh, in light of the probe with Netanyahu. Likud deputies criticized the initiative, describing it as unacceptable.



EU Voices Support for ICC After US Sanctions Judges

The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. (Reuters)
The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. (Reuters)
TT
20

EU Voices Support for ICC After US Sanctions Judges

The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. (Reuters)
The International Criminal Court building is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, January 16, 2019. (Reuters)

The European Union strongly supports the International Criminal Court, the head of the bloc's highest political body said on Friday, after US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on four judges at the court.

Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, which represents national governments of the 27 member states, said the court is "a cornerstone of international justice" and said its independence and integrity must be protected.

Costa spoke a day after Washington imposed sanctions on four judges at the ICC in unprecedented retaliation for the war tribunal's issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.

The order names Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said these judges had "actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel".

The ICC and some of its member states are urging the European Union to use its blocking statute, which bans any EU company from complying with US sanctions, to counter the sanctions.

"Due to the inclusion of a citizen of an EU member state on the sanctions list, Slovenia will propose the immediate activation of the blocking act," Slovenia's foreign ministry said in a post on social media site X, late Thursday.

ICC president Judge Tomoko Akane had urged the EU already in March this year to bring the ICC into the scope of the EU's blocking statute.

The new sanctions have been imposed at a difficult time for the ICC, which is already reeling from earlier US sanctions against its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, who last month stepped aside temporarily amid a United Nations investigation into alleged sexual misconduct.