Former Chief of Staff to Benjamin Netanyahu to Testify Against Him

After the Israeli police called for the prosecution of the Prime Minister of the country on charges including 'bribery and breach of trust', his former chief of staff signed an agreement on Friday, August 4, to cooperate with the legal authorities of the country to gather evidence against the Prime Minister and testify against him. The police's request for an indictment against the Prime Minister and the readiness of his former chief of staff to testify against Mr. Netanyahu have been the major news bombs in Israeli governmental, political, and media circles over the past day. Israeli media reported that the former chief of staff is Hary Ero, who stepped down from the position last year. According to reports, Mr. Ero, by confessing to breach of trust, will only be sentenced to six months of community service instead of imprisonment and will also pay a fine of 700,000 shekels (equivalent to 185,000 US dollars) and will be immune from prosecution. The police's request for an indictment against Mr. Netanyahu was made public on Thursday when a Jerusalem court judge ruled that no information about the interrogations in the investigations against Mr. Netanyahu should be leaked for another six weeks (late September). The Israeli police stated that the interrogations conducted in the anti-corruption unit could lead to charges of 'corruption, fraud, bribery, and breach of trust' against the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has been interrogated for several months in cases known as 'Case 1000' and 'Case 2000'. The head of the investigators in the case related to Netanyahu is an Iranian-born Israeli police officer named Kourosh Barnour. 'Case 1000' concerns the receipt of cigars and champagne from billionaire friends of Mr. Netanyahu; the Prime Minister has confirmed receiving these gifts but claims these individuals were close family friends and that he committed no wrongdoing. 'Case 2000' involves a behind-the-scenes agreement between the Prime Minister and Arnon Mozes, the owner of Yedioth Ahronoth, to reduce criticism of Netanyahu from this newspaper in exchange for reducing the circulation of Israel Hayom, a newspaper supportive of Netanyahu owned by Sheldon Adelson, a wealthy American Jewish billionaire and long-time supporter of Netanyahu. However, the Israeli police have recently begun investigations into another case that Israeli media reports will likely be called 'Case 3000'. The third case relates to the purchase of several German-made submarines for the Israeli army; in this case, corruption allegations have been raised against several high-ranking government and security officials in Israel, but the Israeli prosecution has confirmed that Mr. Netanyahu is not under suspicion in this case. Despite Hary Ero, the former chief of staff, signing an agreement to testify against Netanyahu on Friday, Benjamin Netanyahu stated that 'nothing will happen because there is nothing to it.' While most ministers of the ruling Likud party and allied parties have remained silent regarding the recent news against the Prime Minister, opposition leaders have firmly called for his resignation. Meanwhile, polls indicate that public support for Mr. Netanyahu remains high, with a majority of people considering him more suitable for the premiership than his rivals. Mr. Netanyahu has had the longest tenure as Prime Minister of Israel after David Ben-Gurion; he initially served a three-year term and then an eight-year term and a half. Ehud Olmert, the former Prime Minister of Israel, resigned from his position before an indictment was presented against him for corruption and was sentenced to 19 months in prison, from which he was recently released.