JERUSALEM: Israel’s attorney general has decided to order a criminal probe against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he is to soon be questioned by police, Israeli media reported Thursday.
The Justice Ministry and police have declined to comment. Police have, however, issued a statement saying that it would inform the public “in due time” on the issue, while warning that media reports have included speculation.
Israeli media have reported that the investigation is to involve suspicions of corruption.
Channel 10 television reported that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has authorized police to conduct a criminal investigation.
The station and other Israeli media have reported that Netanyahu is to be questioned by police.
In July, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said he had ordered a preliminary examination into an unspecified affair involving Netanyahu.
No details were given on the nature of the preliminary examination and Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
He has acknowledged receiving money from French tycoon Arnaud Mimran, who was sentenced to eight years in prison over a scam amounting to 283 million euros involving the trade of carbon emissions permits and the taxes on them.
Netanyahu’s office said he had received $40,000 in contributions from Mimran in 2001, when he was not in office, as part of a fund for public activities, including appearances abroad to promote Israel.
He has also come under scrutiny over an alleged conflict of interest in the purchase of submarines from a German firm.
Media reports have alleged a conflict of interest over the role played by the Netanyahu family lawyer, David Shimron, who also acts for the Israeli agent of Germany’s ThyssenKrupp, which builds the Dolphin submarines.
Criminal probe to be opened against Netanyahu
Criminal probe to be opened against Netanyahu
Lebanese authorities arrest journalist at Hezbollah-run channel
- Aly Berro is accused of sharing social media videos insulting President Aoun and PM Salam and defending Hezbollah weaponry
BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities on Friday arrested Aly Berro, a journalist working for Al-Manar TV, which is affiliated with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, state media reported.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that authorities arrested “Al-Manar TV correspondent Aly Berro this evening, based on a warrant issued against him by the Attorney General Judge Jamal Hajjar.”
The NNA added that Hajjar instructed the security forces’ information branch “to begin questioning Berro in the presence of his lawyer, and a decision regarding his case will be made based on the interrogation.”
Berro shared many videos on social media over the past months in which he criticized Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and defended Hezbollah’s weaponry, often using offensive language.
Hajjar issued an arrest warrant for him in October, after he failed to appear for questioning three times over accusations that included insulting Salam, according to a judicial official.
On Monday, the Lebanese government banned Hezbollah’s military activities after it launched rockets on Israel to avenge the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, pulling Lebanon into the Middle East war.
Last year, after Hezbollah was weakened by its 2024 war with Israel, Beirut committed to disarming the group.
Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
