Israeli Police Question Netanyahu for 6th Time

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gali Tibbon/AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gali Tibbon/AFP
TT
20

Israeli Police Question Netanyahu for 6th Time

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gali Tibbon/AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Gali Tibbon/AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned for a sixth time on Sunday over two suspected cases of corruption, police said.

Channel Two television said that detectives arrived at the premier's official Jerusalem residence shortly after 4:00 pm Sunday.

At 9:00 pm a police statement confirmed that he had been questioned "for a number of hours" by officers of the national fraud and serious crimes squad.

It was their second visit in 10 days, after Netanyahu was questioned for about four hours on November 9. He was first quizzed on January 2.

Netanyahu is suspected of having received luxury gifts from wealthy supporters, including Israeli businessman and Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

Milchan, a long-time friend of Netanyahu, reportedly sent him boxes of expensive cigars and other items worth tens of thousands of dollars. The producer was himself questioned in September.

In addition to suspicions that the gifts constituted bribery, the police also suspect that he sought a secret pact for favorable coverage with the publisher of the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

The alleged deal, not believed to have been finalized, would have seen Netanyahu receive favorable coverage in return for helping curb Yediot's competitor, the pro-Netanyahu freesheet Israel Hayom.

Netanyahu, who has been in power since 2009, has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and says he has been the target of a campaign by political opponents.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu confidants Yitzhak Molcho and David Shimron, partners in a law firm and both relatives of the premier, were questioned by police as part of a probe into suspected corruption around the $2 billion purchase of German submarines.

Netanyahu himself has not been named as a suspect in the submarine case.



Israel Seals off the Occupied West Bank

Palestinians walk by the closed Deir Sharaf checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk by the closed Deir Sharaf checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
TT
20

Israel Seals off the Occupied West Bank

Palestinians walk by the closed Deir Sharaf checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk by the closed Deir Sharaf checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP)

Israel closed all checkpoints to the Israeli-occupied West Bank Friday as the country attacked Iran, a military official said Friday.

The move sealed off entry and exit to the territory, meaning that Palestinians could not leave without special coordination.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military recommendations.

Around 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank under Israeli military rule.

With the world’s attention focused on Gaza, Israeli military operations in the West Bank have grown in size, frequency and intensity.

The crackdown has also left tens of thousands unemployed, as they can no longer work the mostly menial jobs in Israel that paid higher wages.

Israel launched a wave of strikes across Iran on Friday that targeted its nuclear program and military sites, killing at least two top military officers and raising the prospect of an all-out war between the two bitter adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq.

The strikes came amid simmering tensions over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and appeared certain to trigger a reprisal. In its first response, Iran fired more than 100 drones at Israel. Israel said the drones were being intercepted outside its airspace, and it was not immediately clear whether any got through.

Israeli leaders cast the attack as necessary to head off an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, though it remains unclear how close the country is to achieving that.