An Indictment Against The Opponents of Netanyahu

Corruption and collusion suspicions surround leading opposition MKs and high-ranking unelected government officials opposing Netanyahu, get buried by mainstream media, along with the long list of his extraordinary achievements and serious questions regarding the legitimacy of the indictments against him

Blue and White, Israeli mainstream media, Israel’s former State Attorney and the Attorney General, have all advanced a one message campaign designed to frame Netanyahu as corrupt, and Blue & White as the new politically clean center-liberal party, destined to replace Netanyhau and the Likud.

In that process, a multitude of remarkable achievements, that has transformed Israel’s economy and geopolitical positioning in the past decade under Neanyahu’s leadership, is deliberately being censured and trivialized by Israel’s corrupt left leaning and biased mainstream media.

But even more disturbing are numerous corruption suspicions of Netanyahu’s opponents, that till now many have not been fully investigated, raising questions regarding selective criminal enforcement, rule of law, and the undermining of the democratic process in Israel.

Yair Lapid, Media Moguls, Billionaires and Case 2000

Yair Lapid as Minister of Finance conducted several clandestine meetings, at his private home, with billionaire Arnon Milchan. Those meetings were blackened-out against protocol, from his official Ministerial calendar. Milchan at the time was trying to promote a “returning resident” law that would have provided huge tax benefits to billionaires like himself. In the end, the law was blocked by the Finance Department, but Lapid lied about his conduct in those meetings, in a public TV interview. Moreover Lapid’s 20 year relations with Milchan, presented a serious conflict of interest, prohibited by law.

But even more disconcerting were the findings in police case 2000 (against Netanyahu), whereby Yedioth Ahronoth mogul Noni Moses admitted to talking to Yair Lapid about the law that would have put commercial impediments on the center-right newspaper– Yisrael Hayom. Yet there was no investigation into his involvement, nor those of other leading MKs like Tzipi Livni and Eitan Cabel who all worked in some coordination with Moses in order to pass the impediment law. A law that would have undermined democratic foundations of freedom of the press, and freedom of business. Last but not least, the whole case reeks of egregious selective law enforcement, as the three MKs who schemed with the mogul publisher on the law against a competing newspaper, all walked away scot-free, while Netanyahu the only person standing up for freedom of the press through a marketplace of ideas is indicted.

Gabi Ashkenazi CEO During an Investment Fraud

In 2011 Gabi Ashkenazi was appointed CEO of the Oil Insurance Company. In a recent court settlement, against the the company, Oil Insurance will pay 4.5 million NIS in compensation to the investors, on account of misleading and deceiving the investors, while Gabi Ashkenaiz was CEO, by failing to report the true prospects of finding oil, after the company had already learned that they had a dry hole. Imagine if Netanyahu would have been involved in such a case, it would have been opening headlines on Channel 11, 12 and 13 for days, but when it’s an opponent of Netanyahu, Israeli mainstream media buries the news.

Avichai Mandelblit and Gabi Ashkenazi in a Collusion Affair

In 2010 Avichai Mandelblit was the top army lawyer, where he helped then IDF Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, hinder investigators in what’s known as the Harpaz Affair. Police investigators recommended in 2014 that Mandelblit be charged with obstruction and breach of trust, but the case was later closed by then State Attorney and backed by a ruling of the Supreme Court. Transcripts from the affair under a court gag order, are alleged to show collusion between Avichai Mandelblit and Gabi Ashkenazi.

The Likud and Netanyahu have called upon Gabby Ashkenazi to remove the gag order, and while Ashkenazi claims that all has been investigated and nothing incriminating found, he’s stonewalled any removal of the gag order.

GA Mandelblit’s Legally Dubious Intervention in Israel’s Democratic Process

In November, Caroline Glick wrote in Yisrael Hayom an article titled “The reign of the prosecution” where she pointed out the suspicious timing of Mandelblit’s intentions to submit an indictment just prior to the elections:

Last February, at the height of the first election campaign of the year, when Netanyahu and his right wing coalition partners were leading in all polls by a wide margin, Mandelblit took the unprecedented – and legally dubious – step of announcing his intention to indict Netanyahu… The moment he made his announcement, the right began to slide in the polls.

Leading up to the second elections of 2019, the Israeli public was exposed to nightly negative coverage against Netanyau, coming from criminal leaks within the investigations against him, and designed to erode public trust in the PM. Netanyahu’s attorneys submitted multiple requests for Mandelblit to investigate these criminal leaks, but all were rejected and never investigated.

Mandelblit’s apparent zeal to undermine Netanyahu’s bid for a repeat term, could also be observed in his eagerness to file the indictment on the very same day of the historic summit in Washington DC, between President Trump and PM Netanyahu, where Trump unveiled his historic “Deal of the Century”. An initiative which represents a paradigm shift in American Mideast policy. One which clearly states and recognizes Israel’s historic claim to the land of Israel, and the imperative for the Palestinian Arabs to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, along with the total and utter abandonment of terrorism.

Benny Gantz and the 5th Dimension

After being buried by the mainstream media for the past year, the Likud and right-wing journalists have finally been able to bring into the spotlight, corruption allegations related to the 5th Dimension during the time that Benny Gantz served as it’s Chairman.

Benny Gantz and CEO Doron Cohen in apparent cahoots with head of police, Roni Alsheikh (who also lead the investigations against Netanyahu), agreed that the police would buy the company’s artificial intelligence system without a tender. Moreover, the purchase was based on a fraudulent presentation by the company as to its track record. Even worse, it now appears like top-secret police data was handed over to the company, as part of a 4 million NIS pilot. The 5th dimension ended up going bankrupt, and with it 4 million Shekel of publicly funded money, and unchecked top-secret police data which might have leaked.

The Weak and Controversial Indictments Against Netanyahu

There’s a slew of serious legal critiques that have deconstructed the questionably fraudulent indictments against Netanyahu. Bar Ilan University law professor Avi Bell who testified on behalf of Netanyahu during his hearing, argued that the prosecution’s case was on shaky legal ground. The illustrious Harvard University Professor Alan Dershowitz who wrote a legal opinion for the hearing, argued that indicting the prime minister over his relationship with the media would pose a danger to Israeli democracy. Last but not least the investigations led by the former State Attorney are ridden with dubious police methods of witness coercion and obtaining evidence without a specific warrant.

Netanyahu, an Historic Leader with Impressive Achievements and Shortcomings

Netanyahu will go down in history as one of the great Jewish leaders of our times. And in the great tradition of Jewish leaders throughout the ages, Jewish culture recognizes and accepts the fact that its leaders are human and as such have weaknesses and shortcomings.

But if for any reason anyone has considered not voting for Netanyhu on account of the dubious indictments against him they should know that:

1. The indictments seem ridden with selective enforcement against Netanyahu.
2. His political opponents and accusers have a list of suspected corruptions and collusion affairs that seemingly didn’t get equal treatment.
3. A left leaning, monopolistic and corrupt mainstream media, for years has operated deliberately and systematically to undermine the Israeli right, by manipulation and shaping of public opinion. So much so, that Netanyahu who is lauded by a long list of world leaders and millions of citizens around the world, is greatly underrated in Israel, due in no small part to Israeli mainstream media.
4. Last but not least, Israel under Netanyahu’s leadership has enjoyed an extensive list of achievements. Here’s a partial list of some of those: 
   1. The lowest amount of conflict related fatalities both civilian and military than any other period in Israel’s history according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
   2. The vision and persistence to turn Israel into a natural gas energy power and exporter.
   3. World spanning economic, defense and political alliances.
   4. The best relations ever between an American President and an Israeli leader, which included the moving of the American embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of the Golan Heights and the Deal of the Century.
   5. Bringing the required evidence the US President needed in order to pull out of the treacherous Iran nuclear deal, and ratchet-up crippling sanctions which impede on Iran’s regional terrorist expansions.
   6. Turning and positioning Israel into a world leading intelligence and cyber power.
   7. Unprecedented alliances with the Suni Arab world.
   8. A set of regional and global strategic alliances along with an impressive list of direct relationships with world leaders across the globe.
   9. All time record high tourism to Israel.
   10. Open skies policy with historic price reductions in air-travel to and from Israel.