A corruption trial against the designated Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been ongoing since 2020. His son is incensed that the officials responsible for the trial should themselves be brought to justice. Indirectly, he even seems to be calling for the death penalty for her.
The son of Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has called for prosecutors and police officers responsible for his father's corruption trial to be tried for treason. Jair Netanyahu said this during a radio call, the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post reported.
"There was a political coup here, with bad intentions," Jair Netanyahu claimed at the talks on Friday. The public prosecutor and the police knew "that they were framing something on an innocent person who also happens to be the head of government elected by the Israeli people." In doing so, they would have "repealed a democratic election".
"That's called subversion, that's called high treason," continued Jair Netanyahu. "Anyone can read in the code what the punishment for high treason is, and it is not a prison sentence." Israeli media interpreted this as an allusion to the death penalty for high treason.
Although Jair Netanyahu has no official position, he is an influential confidant of his father. The corruption trial against Benjamin Netanyahu has been ongoing since 2020. He is accused of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. Netanyahu has always denied the allegations and has spoken of a "witch hunt" against him.
The prime minister-designate has been accused of granting perks to telecoms giant Bezeq when he was communications minister between November 2014 and February 2017. According to the indictment, Netanyahu had a "give and take" corruption relationship with the majority shareholder Shaul Elovich, enabling him to make profits of 1.8 billion shekels (473 million euros). In return, the Walla medium, which belongs to the group, is said to have reported positively about Netanyahu.
Netanyahu is also suspected of having accepted luxury gifts such as jewellery, cigars and champagne worth the equivalent of around 184,000 euros from billionaire friends. He is also said to have offered the critical newspaper publisher Arnon Moses the opportunity to weaken his rival newspaper in return for positive reporting. He is also said to have ordered negative coverage of political rivals.
After his renewed election victory on November 1, the 73-year-old Netanyahu managed to form a right-wing religious coalition. His government is planning far-reaching changes in the law and a targeted weakening of the judicial system. According to experts, the changes could also result in the trial against Netanyahu being overturned.
